That's life
by name-me
Summary: A look into the ever changing relationships of our CSIs in the wierd and wonderful world of Vegas- Grissoms team are working at their limit and the cracks are starting to show. Can he pull it together in time to keep them united or will it all fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all. This is the first chapter of my newest creation. Dropping back into my old style here a little but I hope you like it! I'm sure you will let me know what you think either way! I'm not 100% convinced by the title so it might change in the future. Any sugegestions along the way would be much appreciated! Enjoy!**

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She had only left the lab a mere six hours ago but already Sara's alarm was dredging her from her all to minimal sleep. Without opening her eyes she reached out a hand, fumbling with the alarm clock until she found the button, sighing when the incessant ringing finally stopped. She rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. The room was dark with just a slit of orange light falling through the crack in her curtains. Most days Sara welcomed the thought of opening her curtains to see the sun setting over the Nevada skyline but not today. All she wanted to do today was sleep. The last couple of shifts had been rough. A long and bloody case which had involved several double shifts and resulted in the killer shooting himself, which was no real justice in Sara's eyes. She slowly pushed back the covers and stepped out of bed onto the cool wooden floor, thinking as she did most evenings when she woke, that a rug would be a worthwhile purchase so at least she could have warm feet when she had to get up. She shuffled into the bathroom to shower, taking her time under the hot spray. When she had finished, she turned the water back off only to hear her phone ringing from beside her bed. Groaning, she quickly grabbed her towel and sped back to the bedroom, picking up the phone just in time without checking to see who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Sara. I was beginning to think you weren't going to answer."

"Oh, sorry." She flopped down on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh.

"Did I wake you?"

"No Griss, it's fine. I was just taking a shower."

"Oh." There was a long pause. Sara could feel the water dripping from her hair and soaking the sheets around her. She quickly stood up, swearing under her breath. The last thing she wanted to be doing right now was changing her sheets.

"Is there something I can help you with Grissom or was this just a social call?" She asked, knowing full well that it wasn't.

"Actually I need you at a scene, 43 Hampton Drive. We've had a report of two dead bodies in the garage."

"I need to stop by the lab first to restock my kit."

"You should have done that last night Sara." He chastised.

"Yeah I know." She sighed. "It had just been such a long shift…" She could just picture the frown on her bosses face at this excuse.

"Look, I'll pick up some extra things before I head out."

"You're still at work?" She looked again at the clock in disbelief. She couldn't help but think that he was more than a little hypocritical for telling her to work less and get a hobby when by her calculation he hadn't left the lab in over 40 hours.

"I had to finish off the report." He said simply. "Just meet me at the scene. I'm going to call Nick and get him to meet us there too."

"You really need all three of us?" She asked.

"Yes Sara I do." He said shortly. There was another pause.

"I guess I'll see you there then." She said quietly. "Give me half and hour?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there." His words were followed by a long beep as he hung up the phone.

"So much for a quiet night." Sara mumbled to herself dropping the phone onto her bed. "Guess I better get started on the coffee."

* * *

As promised, thirty minutes later Sara pulled up at her scene. She stepped out of the car into the humid air and was immediately greeted by a mass of people flashing cameras in her face and all shouting questions at once. Her mouth fell open and she looked around herself, utterly confused. An arm appeared from the crowed and pulled her to one side, dragging her past the unruly gaggle of people she now realised were reporters.

"Hey get off..." She shook off the hand without looking up to see who it belonged to.

"Oh sorry." She apologised on seeing it was Brass who was pulling her towards the house and hustling her under the yellow tape to safety. "I thought you were one of them."

"Easy mistake." He shrugged.

"So what's going on here?"

"This is Vegas baby, news travels fast." Bass said. "And this," He gestured to one of the bodies. "Is news." Sara stepped closer and peered over the coroners shoulder to take a look at the bodies face.

"Is that…?"

"Christopher Martin." Brass finished for her. "Model, singer and…"

"Dead." Grissom appeared from inside the house and gave Sara silent nod of greeting.

"Shot actually." David said, standing up from his position by the body. "Twice. Both the bullets are still inside the body."

"And who is this?" Sara asked, pointing at the body of a woman lying against the back wall of the garage.

"That we don't know." Brass said. "She had no ID and I am reliably informed that 'Christo' here wasn't married."

"Informed by who?" Grissom asked.

"Mary over there." He said, waving his hand in the direction of a young blond policewoman who was busily trying to fight back the crowds of reporters. "She was first on the scene. Apparently she was a big fan."

"And the paps?"

"They were here before I was." David said.

"Apparently our guy's limo driver who found the body called just about every paper in town the instant he hung up from calling us."

"Don't you just love it when they do that?" Sara said sarcastically.

"Yeah." Brass sighed. "Nothing like making our jobs difficult."

"Well it's not going to get any easier with us standing around here." Grissom said. "Sara, can you make a start on the body and I'll go and see how Nick is getting on talking to our Limo driver."

"He's here already?" Sara asked.

"Yes, he's just inside." Grissom said turning to leave and join him. Sara nodded and bit her lower lip. He seemed to being rather short with her and she had no idea why. "Oh and Sara." He said turning back to her. "The stuff you wanted is over there. If you don't have something ask Nick."

"Ok." She said quietly placing her kit on the floor before heading over to the paper bag Grissom had pointed at. Brass couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the way Grissom was acting towards Sara and everyone else for that matter. He knew as well as anyone that the last few nights had been tough and that Grissom was likely to be exhausted but it was still no way to talk to his team, his friends. Grissom saw this simple gesture but chose not to react. He had a job to do. And so did Sara.

Sara knelt next to the body and opened her kit glancing around the room to get a better idea of the task that lay ahead.

"Ok David," She stared as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "I'll start with the bodies so you can take them back to the morgue."

"Yeah I think we've got our work cut out for us tonight. We already have one guy waiting to be autopsied."

"Guess the press will have to wait for their answers as to what happened here then huh." Sara said as she walked around to the dead stars other side.

"I'm not sure Ecklie will be too pleased with that. You know how is when the press get involved." There was a sudden commotion outside causing Sara and David to look up. A young woman had pushed her way through the crime scene tape and was being wrestled back by the police.

"And now the hysterical fans have arrived." Sighed Sara. "Just what we need." Just then Nick came into the garage and set his kit down beside Sara's.

"How are you getting on in here? Grissom sent me to lend you a hand."

"I'm almost done photographing this one," Sara said. "Haven't started on her yet though." Nick nodded.

"Some crowd we got out there."

"Sure is." Sara answered, her head already buried back in the camera.

"You think our killer might be one of them?" She looked up at him and shrugged.

"Be pretty brave to come back with all the press around."

"Be pretty brave to come back with us around but we've seen it happen." He said.

"Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a few shots of the masses." Sara agreed. "We'll be back in a minute David." The coroner nodded his approval as the two CSI's headed out onto the front lawn.

"You manage to get much sleep?" Nick asked over the growing noise of the crowd.

"Nope." She said shaking her head. "You?"

"No." They both lifted their cameras and began taking photos of the people in front of them working in opposite directions across the group. "You look pretty beat." She dropped her camera and glared over at him.

"Well thanks Nick." She lifted the camera and took another photo. "You know you don't look so hot yourself."

"That's why we work the night shift." He joked. "No one can see us in the dark."

"Yeah right." She chucked.

"Nick, Sara." Grissom called them from behind. He was walking to wards them with his kit in his hand. "I just got a call from Catherine. She needs some help at her scene."

"You want one of us to go?" Nick offered.

"No you two stay and process here. I'll go meet Catherine and meet you back at the lab." Sara was about to protest but he was already walking away. She turned slowly back to look at Nick. He just shrugged.

"Looks like it's going to be another long night."

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**Ok guys, so what did you think of the first chapter? I would really love it if you left me a quick review :) It will only take you a second and it will brighten my day no end!!! Thanks for reading. x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi all. FIrst of all I want to say a massive than you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!!! It's so great to have such a huge response form you guys. It really means a lot. Secondly, I want to apologise for this chapter being a little short, but it just seemed to come to a natural end. More soon I hope!**

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"So I hear you got yourself a dead celebrity?" Catherine said, appearing behind Nick who was busily searching the internet for any recent articles he could find on Christopher Martin. He was nursing a mug of coffee in one hand and slowly scrolling down the computer screen with the other.

"Yeah. 'Christo Martin' and some woman we haven't managed to identify yet. I was hoping maybe there would be some pictures of them together somewhere, help us find out who she is." Catherine nodded and perched on the bench next to him, looking at the screen over his shoulder.

"Any luck?"

"Nada."

"Well," She sighed. "Give it time Nicky. I'm sure the gossip columnists will come up with something soon enough." He swivelled round on his chair to face her, changing the subject.

"And what about you? What did you have that was so interesting Grissom had to abandon us with half of Vegas there watching us process the scene?" She sensed a slight hint of bitterness in his tone but thought better than to mention it. Instead she just shrugged.

"Dead body. Lots of bugs."

"Oh, so right up Grissom's street then."

"Oh yeah." She smiled. "He was in his element."

"Nick?" Sara's head appeared around the doorway but she stopped when she saw Catherine. "Oh sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No, Nick was just telling me about your case. Exciting stuff huh?" Sara smiled. She didn't generally find working cases with famous people to be anymore exciting than any other. In fact if anything, it just annoyed her that they seemed to be prioritised above everyone else. "I better get going anyway." Catherine said as she slid off the bench, her heels clicking on the hard floor as she landed. "I'll see you guys later." She gave Nick an encouraging smile and gently squeezed his shoulder before she left, smiling at Sara too as she passed.

"I'm just heading down to autopsy." Sara said when Catherine had gone, leaning sideways to rest on the doorframe. "You want to come?"

"Sure why not?" Nick sighed. "I don't seem to be getting anywhere here anyway."

"Still no luck with identifying our woman then?" She asked as Nick came to her side and they began the walk down to the morgue.

"Not yet. I think Mandy was running her prints but I've not heard how she's getting on yet. I think she was pretty backed up."

"Yeah the bad guys seem to be out in force lately." Sara said, running her hand through her hair.

"Tell me about it." Nick sighed. "All this overtime is good for the bank balance but it's doing nothing for my social life." Sara smiled half-heartedly, trying to hide her unease at the mention of having a social life at all. It was something that was distinctly lacking from Sara's life and although she pretended that she didn't mind it, sometimes it made her a little sad.

"Tell you what," Nick continued. "It's doing nothing for the status of my laundry either. Pretty soon I'm going have to start re-wearing clothes." He got another slight smile. "I mean I know Greg does it all the time but…" This made her smile broaden and Nicks along with it. "Now that's better." Sara frowned at him, not sure what he meant. "The smile." He explained.

"Oh?"

"You seem a little down tonight." He siad, his voice tinged with concern. She shrugged.

"No. Just tired that's all." They had reached the morgue now and Sara reached for two lab coats, handing one to Nick, hoping he would drop the subject.

"Thanks." He took the coat and slipped it on as he held the door open for her with one foot. He watched her slowly walk past him, her shoulders slumped and defeated. There was definitely something not quite right about his friend and he wasn't convinced it was just tiredness as she claimed. Doctor Robbins looked up as the walked in and nodded at them in greeting.

"Another one for your book doc?" Nick said, noticing the camera in the coroners hand. It was perhaps one of the strangest hobbies Nick could imagine, photographing dead celebrities, but one Nick found oddly fascinating at the same time.

"Just one of the perks of the job." He joked placing the camera down beside him ready to talk the CSI's through his autopsy findings.

"So what have you got for us?" Sara asked.

"Well he was shot twice through the chest, I have the bullets here for you." Al Robbins said handing Sara a clear plastic container with the bullets ratting around inside.

"34mm." Sara observed.

"I got the same sized bullet from our Jane Doe too. She had just a single shot to the chest which severed her aorta." Nick nodded and looked down at the body in front of him.

"Are these defensive wounds?" He asked, pointing at areas of bruising on both of the dead stars arms.

"Yes, it's defiantly pre-mortem bruising. By the shape I would say someone grabbed hold of his wrists."

"Did you see any similar marks on the woman too?" Sara asked.

"No. There was some old bruising on her upper thighs but nothing from immediately prior to her death."

"Any signs of sexual activity at all?"

"Yes, not long prior to death but it was consensual and there was no semen I'm afraid." Sara nodded, absorbing the information.

"So I guess the chances are that she and Christo were in some kind of relationship." Nick said, Sara and the coroner both shrugging their agreement. "Anything else come up?"

"No that's all."

"Ok well thanks Doc." Nick said. "We'll get these up to ballistics."

"Yeah thanks Nick, Sara." Al said as the two CSI's left the room to head back upstairs to the labs. They were just hanging up their white coats when the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the corridor behind them made them turn. Gil Grissom was heading towards them. Sara froze, her hand hovering above the coat peg, her coat still in her hand.

"Hey Griss, What's the hurry?" Nick asked his boss as he approached.

"I think I may have an ID on Catherine's DB." He said, waving a photograph in Nick's general direction.

"Must be someone pretty exciting."

"Not especially." Nick glanced over to Sara, raising his eyebrow at their boss's behaviour but she didn't seem to notice. She was standing looking down at the floor, still holding her lab coat.

"You ok there Sara?" He asked frowning. Grissom turned his head sharply to look at her.

"Huh?" She looked up now, her eyes looking a little gazed, like her mind was somewhere very different to her body. Nick slowly took the coat from her hand and hung it up, his eyes silently laughing at her startled expression as he did so.

"Oh thanks." She said, giving Nick a half smile. Grissom frowned.

"If you're that tired Sara you should go home." He said, pulling on his own lab coat and opening the morgues door.

"No, I'm fine." She said, but the door had already closed behind him. "Just, fine." She mumbled quietly, biting down gently on her lower lip. Nick looked at her, waiting for an explanation of what had just happened. But he didn't get one. Mostly because Sara didn't know herself why Grissom was acting so strangely towards her. They had been fine last week, they had worked their last case together and granted, the outcome wasn't great, but they were getting on as well as ever. But now it seemed to have changed.

"We should get these upstairs." She said eventually, breaking the silence.

"Ok." Said Nick, desperate to check that she really was ok but thinking better of it. He knew that if he kept pushing her she might just shut him out altogether.

"So, uh, any ideas about the case yet?" He asked as they walked along.

"Not sure. Maybe Christo was trying to defend our Jane Doe, that's why he has the defensive wounds?"

"That sounds plausible."

"I guess it could have been just a random attack. A burglary gone wrong."

"The security in that place was pretty tight." Nick pointed out, thinking that there were much easier targets for a burglar on that street. "Was there anything in the house obviously missing?"

"I don't think so."

"Maybe we could go back and check. Ask his friends or his manager or something, see if they know."

"I'll call Brass see if we can arrange something."

"This is beginning to look more and more like a double shift isn't it?" Nick said with a sigh.

"Afraid so." Sara said, her tone equally deflated.

"Guess the laundry is just going to have to wait."

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**Thanks for reading. Once again, your reviews would be very much appreciated and I promise you will all get a reply form me to say thank you personally! **

**Cheers**

**x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone. Sorry it's taken a little while longer than I had expected to get this chapter posted but I got there in the end! I hope you like it. **

**Massive thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter for me. It really does mean a lot to hear what you guys think.**

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Grissom sat alone in his office, the door closed to the world outside. The only noise was that of the clock ticking, the second hand it appeared, moving unnaturally slowly. He opened the top draw of his desk and took out a white envelope from the top of a pile of papers, the contents of which had been weighing on his mind all night. He ran a finger slowly across the crisp top edge of the and down to the symbol printed in dark blue ink in the corner. He slowly turned the envelope over and fingered the already broken seal. He closed his eyes, taking a moment to think, to really think this time about the words that lay on the paper inside. This was something he really wanted but he had commitments here at the lab, a life and things he wasn't willing to leave behind. A harsh knock at the door broke through his thoughts and he looked up, startled.

"Um, uh come in." He stumbled over his words as he spoke. As the door opened he slip the envelope carefully under a file on his desk.

"Hey Griss." Warrick Brown stepped into the room closely followed by Greg Saunders, lab tech recently turned CSI. "We've got our case report. Pretty open and shut case." He handed the brown folder over to his boss's outstretched hand.

"Seems like you got a good deal with this one."

"Yeah, I just saw Nick and Sara heading back out the their scene. Tough case."

"Well, I don't know, they get to brush with the world of celebrity." Greg chimed up.

"And 'Christopher Martin', the man's a legend." Warrick shrugged, half agreeing with the younger man.

"But his music sucks" Greg added.

"That doesn't mean we don't have to find out who killed him Greg." Grissom glared at the younger man as he spoke.

"Yeah I know." He said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his boss. There was a moments pause. "So when do I get to process my first dead famous guy?"

"Greg. Murder is not a joke." Grissom said harshly.

"I know and I wasn't joking. It was a genuine question." Grissom just glared at him.

"Sorry." He mumbled, taking a step back as if trying to avoid any harm Grissom stern glare could cause him.

"So, do you guys have something you can be doing?" Grissom said looking back down at the file in his hand and flicking through the pages as he spoke.

"I have some paper work to finish off." Warrick said nodding, understanding the Grissom was busy and needed them to leave him to his work.

"Greg?" Grissom prompted when he didn't say anything. He just shrugged. "Go see if Catherine needs a hand. She's in the layout room."

"Ok boss." The two men left the room, closing the door behind them, leaving Grissom alone again. He sighed and leaned back in his seat. He opened the file on his lap but the corner of the envelope on his desk caught his eye. His hand hovered above it for a moment but the he shook his head and instead picked up his glasses. He moved the file to his desk and placing the glasses on his nose, began to read.

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Having left Grissom's office, Greg, as instructed had gone to the layout room in search of Catherine. He had found her, hunched over a mound of evidence, trying to decide on some sensible strategy for processing it. She looked a little harassed and Greg thought that Grissom had probably abandoned her with little explanation to work on it all alone. She seemed grateful for his help and said as much, a slight sense of relief passing across her delicate features. After she had filled him in on the case, the pair set about the laborious task of sifting through the evidence piece by piece, carefully processing and photographing it, before setting it to one side to be logged in to the evidence store for safe keeping. They worked in comfortable silence for some time Greg occasionally glancing up to his superior with the intention of asking her a question but then changing his mind. She looked a little stressed out and he did not want to get on the wrong side of a good tempered Catherine Willows let alone a stressed one. But in the end, as it often did, his curiosity won out.

"So uh, what's up with Grissom tonight?" He asked casually.

"Grissom?" She looked up at him from across the table, brushing the hair from her eyes with the back of a gloved hand.

"Yeah. He seems a little… touchy." He said, choosing his words carefully. The man was his boss after all and Catherine was his second in command.

"I can't say I'd noticed." She said, looking back down at her work for a moment. Greg frowned. It wasn't like Catherine to pick up on that sort of thing and it made him wonder if it was just him that Grissom seemed to be annoyed with. "But then," Catherine looked back up with smirk. "I did get him a body with lots of bugs, so I guess that might have appeased him when he was around me." Greg laughed.

"So that's the key to getting on his good side then."

"That among other things." She said cryptically. But the truth was even after years of working together, Gil Grissom was at times still a complete mystery to her. "You'll catch on eventually Greg don't worry." He smiled. "People tend to learn pretty quickly after their first run of decomps and trash runs!"

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Nick and Sara had been back at their scene for nearly two hours. They had printed doors and window latches, the front gates, the doorbell, but had so far got little other than useless smudges and prints, most of which probably belonged to Christopher Martin and his friend, who they had yet to identify. They had looked for any signs of forced entry but had had little to go on with that either. Sara's already low energy levels were slowly beginning to deplete further and her patients was beginning to wear thin. They were already well into their double shift, the fourth one Sara had pulled in the last two weeks, and she was in serious need of coffee, or preferably a bed, but she doubted the latter was an option for the foreseeable future. She stood up from where she was crouched by the back door and stretched her tired body. She sighed and pushed open the door to step out onto the back porch. Blinking in the bright sunlight she walked across the wooden deck to rest her elbows on the white stone railings and look out over the vest, well manicured garden beyond. Her eyes fell on the swimming pool, the glistening clear water scattering the light into a whole rainbow of colours, playing tricks with her weary eyes.

"Hey." Nicks voice cut through the silence making her jump. She turned to face him, resting her back against the railing now, and gave him a warm smile. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there and her mind had wandered to a place where it had forgotten her reason for being in the house at all. "What are you doing out here?"

"Admiring the view?" She tried, but really she wasn't too sure. He raised an eyebrow at her, indicating that he was not about to accept that as any kind of answer. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I just needed some fresh air." She said, turning back to face the gardens again as he came to her side.

"You ok?" He asked concerned. She seemed somehow deflated, even more so than she had earlier.

"Yeah. Just tired you know." He leaned forward so his forearms were resting on the railing, mirroring her stance. He squinted at her, still worried, but then followed her gaze out to the gardens, deciding it was best to leave the subject alone. They stood there in silence for a moment, enjoying the gentle warmth of the sun. Working the night shift meant that they rarely had the opportunity to enjoy the day light, except on those days where work for one reason or another got in the way of sleep, and even then it was more a sense of frustration than enjoyment that accompanied the sunlight. Not that it bothered Nick much. He had always liked the night, the moon, the stars, but every now and then it was nice to feel the sun on his face. Eventually Nick spoke up.

"Brass called and said they have brought the manager in for questioning."

"Oh yeah, what did he say?"

"That Christopher was single so the dead woman can't have been his girlfriend,"

"But we already knew that." Sara said brushing the hair back from her face, leaving her head resting in her hand.

"Let me finish." Nick said in a mock-irritated tone.

"Oh sorry, go on." She said, not really noticing his teasing. Nick cleared his throat.

"What he did say is that our beloved Christo Martin liked to indulge in the 'occasional hire of a prostitute,' to use his exact words."

"Great." Sara sighed. "And these people are supposed to be role models for the younger generation. No wonder the crime rate is so high."

"Ok, ok miss cynical." Nick teased standing up a little straighter and nudging her playfully in the side.

"It was just an observation." She pouted, holding back a smile. He smiled back, glad that she seemed a little brighter now than she had when he first founder outside. "So what, now?"

"Well I guess we finish off here and then maybe head down to PD. We can flash the girl's picture around, see if anyone recognises her."

"Might be worth showing it to manager too." She said, thinking out loud "He'll probably deny knowing her, they always do, but it's worth a try." Nick nodded his agreement.

"Ok then, how much longer do you need here?" He asked her.

"Ten minutes tops. I'm almost done." She said, stifling a yawn as she turned and began to make her way back towards the house.

"Got anything useful?"

"Lots of nothing I think. You?"

"The same." He sighed, holding open the door for her to enter the house again. "This is just going to be one of those cases isn't it?"

"Certainly looks that way." She agreed sadly. She bent down and pulled a new pair of latex gloves from her field kit.

"I'll leave you to it for a while." Nick said, heading off to gather up his own kit. She nodded, pulling the gloves on in one fluid and automated motion. Sighing she picked up the pot of black print powder and a brush ready to print the last few areas before they left to carry out the next part of their investigation.

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**So that was chapter three. What did you think? I would, as ever, be very grateful if you could just take a few seconds to review for me :)**

**Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again. As always I want to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter. It's really great to hear what you guys all think!**

**So this is chapter four. There isn't much development of the case here but I hope you don't think that that is to the detriment of the story? There is a reason for it and you will see that when you read it I hope. Enjoy!**

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Sara tuned the corner into the lab car park and sharply pulled into the nearest available parking space. Sighing, she turned off the radio and pulled the key out of the ignition. She grabbed her kit from the seat next to her and stepped out into the warm evening air. It was already pretty dark outside but the suns heat was still lingering on. She had just returned from a rather fruitless trip to the police station with Nick. They still had no name for their female victim but they had had left a picture of her there on the off chance that someone might recognise her. Sara's next rather lengthy task was to trawl the missing persons database to see if she could find a match on there. Lost in her own thoughts, Sara didn't notice that someone was walking towards her across the car park until she had practically walked into them.

"Hey you're working on the investigation into Christo Martin's death right?" A deep voice called out to her, causing her to look up.

"I'm uh, not supposed to talk about any open cases." She said.

"Right." The man nodded but continued to look at her. He was a little taller than her and well built with short dark hair and well sculpted facial hair around his mouth and chin.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked politely, hoping there wasn't.

"Well, it's just that I recognise you from last night as his house," He explained, Sara beginning to grow a little uneasy at his words. "And I was wondering what you think about the rumours that he was sleeping with a prostitute the night he died?" Sara's heart pounded in his chest. How could he possibly know that?

"Like I said, I can't talk about an open case."

"Oh come on," The man insisted. "You must be able to give us something? I won't even publish your name so you don't get your pretty face into trouble."

"Publish?" It was stating to make a little more sense now, but how the papers had got hold of this information was still a mystery to her. "Who do you work for?"

"Markus Jones, The Vegas Globe." The man said, producing a business card from his pocket and thrusting it in her direction. She just shook her head and walked past him towards the lab.

"Hey, at least take my card." He grabbed her arm stopping her from walking away. She spun round and glared at him, trying to pull her arm free. "Then you can let me know if you change your mind."

"I don't think so." He was still gripping her arm and his grip only tightened as she tried to pull free for a second time. "Let go of me." She grumbled.

"Now there's no need to be rude." He said, his jaw tightening as he spoke.

"I already told you I'm not going to tell you anything so just let go."

"Or what?"

"I'll have you arrested for assault of a member of law enforcement." His eye's narrowed and he clenched his jaw tighter but he still didn't let go.

"Hey." Nick's Southern accent rang across the car park and Sara looked past the journalists shoulder to see him running towards her. Markus Jones, for his part didn't take his eyes away from Sara. "Let go of her." He turned now to see the CSI coming towards him, an infuriated look on his face. He dropped Sara's arm and shoved her back away from him. She stumbled back a little but quickly regained her balance. "What do you think you're doing here?" Nick demanded.

"Trying to do my job, get a story." He answered, turning to face Nick straight on, trying to intimidate him.

"By assaulting a member of CSI?" The man just shrugged.

"Hey, what ever it takes."

"No man look, either get off the property or I'll get security to remove you." Nick said more forcefully. The man let out a disgusted laugh, turning to take one last hateful look at Sara before storming off.

"I'll be sure to let everyone know how unhelpful their city's crime fighting team are." He shouted over his shoulder as he left. Nick watched him go, waiting until he was in his car before he turned back to speak to Sara. She was stood staring in the direction the journalist had left in, rubbing her right forearm with her hand.

"You ok."

"Yeah I'm fine." She said quietly.

"Did he hurt you?" Nick asked coming towards her and taking her right hand in his so he could look at her arm, not that he could see anything in the semi-darkness.

"Not really." She replied, looking down at her arm herself. Nick was sure he could feel her hand shaking slightly in his but didn't say so.

"Guess that's a good advert for taking the same car to a scene huh?" Sara joked, forcing a laugh.

"Yeah I guess it is." Nick smiled. He rested a hand on her shoulder gently urging her towards the lab. "Come on let's get inside."

* * *

Once inside, they set about quickly logging their evidence from the house before getting ready for the start of their third shift running. Nick quickly changed in the locker room while Sara headed for the bathroom. She headed straight for the sink and ran the tap, waiting briefly for the water to warm a little before splashing it over her face. She looked up at herself in the mirror and instantly regretted it. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, which in fairness, was almost true. She heard the sound of the toilet flushing and jumped having not realised there was anyone in the room with her. She quickly grabbed a paper towel and dried her face, finishing just in time to see Catherine emerge from the cubicle behind her.

"Hi" She said, smiling weakly.

"Oh hey." The blond came to sink beside her and frowned. "Aren't those the clothes you were wearing last night?"

"Oh yeah." She looked down at her crumpled shirt. "I was just about to change."

"That's not what I meant." Catherine said slowly. Sara looked at her in the mirror, not wanting to meet her eyes directly. "You haven't been home?" Sara shook her head.

"We had to go back to our scene then we stopped off at PD." She explained simply. Catherine nodded.

"Any luck?"

"Not really." She sighed, taking hold of the edge of her sink to give her tired body a little extra support.

"Yeah, we seem to be at a bit of a dead our with our case too." Said Catherine sympathetically.

"Sucks doesn't it." Sara said making Catherine laugh bitterly. She looked over at the younger woman, eyeing her cautiously. Something didn't seem right about her. Then she noticed the faint bruising on her arm.

"Sara what happened?" She pointed at the red and blue marks that blemished the girls pale skin.

"Oh, just some reporter guy in the car park getting a little over anxious for a story. It was nothing." She said, trying to brush it aside.

"Well have you told Grissom?" Catherine said urgently but Sara just shook her head.

"Sara if he attacked you…"

"He didn't attack me Cath, he just grabbed my arm to stop me getting away when I wouldn't tell him anything about the case."

"Sound's like an attack to me." Catherine said, perhaps a little more sternly than she had meant to. Sara looked down at the sink and bit the inside of her bottom lip nervously. There was a risk that if Catherine kept going on about what had just happened, she would start to get upset about it and she didn't want that to happen. "What did he want to know?" Catherine said after a moment.

"If Christopher Martin was sleeping with a prostitute the night he died." Sara said without looking up.

"And was he?"

"It looks that way at the minute yes."

"How do the press know?" Sara shrugged and looking up, turned to meet Catherine's eyes for the first time.

"Your guess is as good as mine. A leak in PD, his manager, one of the girls friends?"

"Well Grissom at least needs to know about that. If one report knows Sara, it's only a matter of time before they all do."

"Yeah I know." She said quietly with a sigh, rubbing a hand across her face. Catherine reached out and rested a hand on her arm. "You ok?" She asked gently, feeling guilty for thinking for even a moment that Sara was not shaken by her experience. She normally seemed so resilient and headstrong that it would be easy to think that this kind of thing didn't affect her, but clearly something was not right with Sara now and her encounter in the car park seemed like the best explanation.

"I'm fine. It's just been a long shift, a long week actually." She gave Catherine an entirely unconvincing smile in an attempt to reassure her but it had no such effect.

"Well maybe you should take the night off, I mean you've just worked a double and if you tell Grissom about what just happened I'm sure…"

"No Catherine it's fine, really."

"Ok, if you say so." She agreed, knowing there was little point in arguing. "But you will tell him about the reporter?"

"Yes Cath, I'll tell him about the reporter." She said, knowing equally well that there was little point in arguing with her about this either.

"Good." Catherine nodded, at least partially satisfied. "You just take it easy ok." She said on the way out of the door hoping for Sara's sake that her words might sink in. Sara waited for a moment to be sure Catherine would be gone before following her out and making her way to the locker room to change. She opened the locker door and positioned herself behind it while she unbuttoned her shirt and then dumped it in the bottom of her locker. She pulled down the last of her spare clothes, a deep red t-shirt, from the shelf at the top and slipped it over her head. She took another moment to look at herself in small mirror that hung on the inside of her locker door and decided it best to try and tame her hair a little. She picked up her bag and rummaged for a hair band then on finding one, wound in around her hair to hold it back in massy bun. It was the best she could muster right now, even if she did still look more dishevelled than she would like. She was about to close up her locker when as an after thought she grabbed her black cardigan and slipped it on to cover up her arms. She didn't want any more questions. Satisfied now, she shut her locker and made her way to the supervisors office. She hovered outside the door for a moment, trying to come up with a coherent way of telling him about what had happened, but then swallowing her pride, she gave the door a hesitant knock, waiting until he called her before going in.

"Hey Griss, you got a minute?" She asked, holding the door closed behind her. He looked at her for a moment, almost as though he was expecting someone else.

"I uh, need to go and handout the assignments Sara, can it wait?" He said walking towards her with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Um, I guess so." She said quietly, knowing that really it couldn't.

"Ok good." He said, reaching out past her for the door handle. She stepped aside to allow him to open it but hesitated at following him out. "You coming?" He asked, turning back to see her standing there, her hands clasped in front of her like a nervous child. She nodded and shuffled down the corridor after him towards the break room. The team fell silent as he came in, waiting to hear what they had in store for them that night. As soon as Sara walked in she could feel Catherine's eyes upon her.

"Ok Warrick, You've got a B&E in Henderson." Grissom said, handing the man his assignment slip, getting straight down to business. Sara glanced over to Nick as Grissom spoke.

"You ok?" He mouthed to her across the room, worry etched in his features. She nodded and then looked away, turning her gaze to the ground. "Catherine, I need you to go and see a body found off the strip. Brass is already there." He handed her the paper containing the details. "Nick, I want you to keep working on your case but Sara, I want you and Greg to work a reported sexual assault. Here are the details, I think the girl has just been taken to the hospital." He handed Sara the slip of paper half expecting her to protest but glad that she didn't. He didn't want to have to argue with her. "Any question?" Everyone shook their heads and then set about gathering what they needed to go to their scenes.

"You coming Sara?" Greg asked as he walked past her. She was still standing motionless by the door, watching the path Grissom had just taken back to his office. She looked at Greg and then back out into the hallway. She knew she should really talk to Grissom before she left but it could take a while and she didn't want to keep Greg, or the victim, waiting. After all, a couple of hours wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah." She said smiling at the younger man. "Hey, I'll even let you drive."

"Really?" Greg asked surprised, a smile spreading on his face. The truth was Sara didn't really trust herself behind the wheel with so little sleep behind her.

"Yes Greg really." She said smiling too as his delight. "Now go get your keys and I'll meet you downstairs." He nodded eagerly and did as he was told, leaving Sara wishing she could be as enthusiastic about another new case as he was.

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**So what do you think? It will take you literally seconds to let me know and I promise that every review really does make me smile. Thank you for sticking with me. Hope to hear from you soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi all. a huge thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter for me: angsty-otaku, gsrfan34, leahsgramma, was spraturid quimby, Famous4it and toothchick. Here is chapter five for your enjoyment.**

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It was a known fact that a visit from Conrad Ecklie was rarely, if ever, to be a pleasant experience. Today, Gil Grissom saw that fact realised. On top of his already long and difficult day that had left him in a rather bad mood, he now had to find a reprimand one of his team, which was not something he liked doing. He stormed from his office and on seeing his target, turned sharply into the layout room.

"Sara." The woman looked up at him as did Greg, who was standing beside her observing her carefully as she worked. "I need to speak to you in my office." She looked at the man beside her and then back to Grissom. This could only be about one thing and she didn't want to have to face it.

"I'm just teaching Greg how to…"

"Now Sara." He growled walking from the room just as brashly as he had entered it. She swallowed hard and Greg would swear her face drained to be even paler than it had been before. She didn't move, just stared at the doorway.

"Sara?" Her mind was racing, considering what may be about to happen, considering the repercussions, and it wasn't until Greg brushed her arm and repeated her name that she even registered that he was talking to her.

"Huh?" She spun her head to look at him, a glimmer of panic in her dark eyes. Greg opened his mouth, about to ask here if she was ok but she spoke first. "I uh, I'm sorry Greg." She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to focus her thoughts. "Why don't you and see how Hodges is getting on in trace."

"Ok, yeah." He said. His hand was still resting on her arm and on seeing her still hesitant to follow Grissom to his office, he gently coaxed her towards the door. After a few steps her pace quickened, as she became eager to simply get this discussion out of the way. The events from the car park played over in her mind as she blindly walked the familiar path to the supervisor's office. The door was open when she arrived and she walked in without looking up. When she did lift her head, she surprised to see not only Grissom but also Nick and a rather angry looking Ecklie standing before her. She looked from one face to another, seeing anger, regret and perhaps worst of all, disappointment. She finally settled on Grissom's face but she could tell he was avoiding her eyes.

"Sidle," She cringed at Ecklies use of her surname to address her. "I don't suppose you have seen the news tonight?" She tore her eyes away from Grissom and looked over to the man who was speaking, shaking her head. "Well I guess that's ok because you already know that the press are aware of the situation with Christopher Martin and his night with a prostitute." She wasn't sure what to say and a horrible, thick silence descended on the room. It seemed to last for hours but it was only a matter of seconds before she began to try and speak.

"I did but…"

"And you didn't think it was necessary to tell your supervisor about it?"

"Well I tried…"

"Clearly not hard enough." He cut her off, his words short and laced with anger. She bit her bottom lip and looked over to Nick. He had guilt written all over his face. She didn't need to ask if it was him that had told them she had already spoken to the press. "Do you know how they found out?" Ecklie asked.

"No and I swear I didn't say anything." She defended. She looked over to Grissom, willing him to intervene but he was still looking down at his desk.

"This isn't all Sara's fault." Nick chimed up. "I was there in the car park too, I should have said something as much as Sara."

"Well that's very gallant of you Nick but it was Sara who was approached by the reporter, not you, so really the responsibility falls to her." Ecklie explained. Now it was Nicks' turn to look over to Grissom in the hope that he might help to defend his team, but he too found himself disappointed. There was a long silence. Sara could hear her own breath in her ears.

"I'm going to have to ask you to go home Sara." Ecklie said. All eyes fell on him, including now Grissom's as he looked up for the first time.

"Conrad, she's on my team, this is my decision to make."

"Normally that might be the case," He replied. "But tonight her actions may have jeopardised the entire investigation. We can't afford to do that with such a high profile case. If Sara had spoken to us earlier, we could have stopped the news spreading before it got so out of hand. The press are having a filed day out there!" He ranted.

"But the damage is already done, how is sending Sara home going to make a difference now?" Nick said, having to try very hard to control the full extent of his anger.

"By showing that the lab is taking appropriate action against unprofessional conduct among its employees." There was a part of Sara that wanted to fight the decision, to defend herself. She knew that she had made a bad decision by not speaking to Grissom earlier but unprofessional seemed like a rather strong word to use. But as it was, she couldn't bring herself to fight it. Her voice was strained as she spoke, breaking the tense silence that had once again descended over them.

"It's ok. I'll go."

"No Sara…"

"Really, it's, it's fine." She opened the door ready to leave. "How long for?" She asked without turning around.

"The rest of this shift." Ecklie said. "I would make it longer but we are too over run with cases as it is."

"I'll see you tomorrow night then." She said quietly walking away.

"I'm sorry to have to do that Gil." Ecklie said when Sara had gone. "I have to go and make a statement to the press now. I expect you to keep me updated on the case." He said briskly following Sara from the room. That just left Nick and Grissom. The younger man looked at his supervisor and shook his head.

"You never let her even explain what happened." He said, more disappointed than angry. He had always admired his boss but right now he felt truly let down by him. "It wouldn't have made a difference Nick. Ecklie had made his decision before she even got here." Nick laughed bitterly.

"How can you say that? You're supposed to be all about the evidence Grissom and you didn't even give her a chance. That man assaulted her and you didn't even ask her if she was ok."

"He what?" Concern flashed in his eyes, but Nick was too frustrated now to see it.

"You see Grissom, sometimes you can be so wrapped up in your work that you don't see what's happening around you. She was upset Grissom, it was written all over her face, and you just didn't notice." He looked at Grissom for a moment, his jaw tightening the longer he waited for him to speak. After a moment, he realised Girssom wasn't going to say anything. No explanation, no apology, nothing. But it didn't entirely surprise him. "I'll see you later Griss." He stormed from the room resisting the urge to slam the door shut behind him for fear of looking childish. He sharply turned the corner to the locker room, glad to see that Sara was still there. He hovered in the door for a brief moment watching her before he spoke. She was half hidden behind her open locker door, stuffing what he guessed to be last night's clothes into a bag.

"Sara I'm sorry…" She stepped back and turned to look at his silhouette in the doorway.

"Don't Nick ok, just don't." She choked. She was close to tears and it broke his heart to see it. He had known that something was playing on her mind and this must have finally tipped her over the edge. He couldn't help but think that if he had pushed her to talk to him earlier she might be feeling so low right now. She might have fought back. Her locker door slamming shut interrupted his thoughts and he realised that if he didn't speak now he might not get the chance.

"Ecklie asked me and I couldn't lie…" He said, trying to explain himself.

"It's ok, it's not your fault." She said as she swung her bag over her shoulder and began to walk towards him.

"Still…" He rested a hand on her arm to stop he walking straight past him. She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Don't let this upset you Sara, Ecklies just being an ass."

"I think it's a little late to be telling me that Nick." She said, giving him a watery smile, he lips quivering as the ears teetered closer to the edge. "Thanks though." He brought his hand to the side of her face and she closed her eyes for just a second, relishing the comfort of a friend. "I better get going." She whispered. He didn't try to stop he as she pulled away from him, knowing her well enough to realise that she didn't want to be here if and when her emotions truly took a hold of her. Instead, he watched her walk away with a sigh wishing there was more he could do.

* * *

Catherine, oblivious to what was going on elsewhere in the lab was busily trawling the missing persons database for anyone who matched the description of the girl's body she had been to see earlier that night. The girls bag had been stolen so she had no identification on her and despite running her fingerprints through the database, Catherine still had no idea who this girl was. She was a pretty girl in her mid to late twenties with long blond hair and crystal blue eyes. It looked to Catherine very much like she was a victim of a violent mugging, the single stab wound making the whole thing seem very impersonal. It infuriated her to see these kinds of cases, and if she was honest, it scared her a little too. To think that someone would kill you for the sake of the contents your handbag was not a nice thought. She pressed the arrow key again and sighed when the face looking back at her on the screen was not the one she was hoping for. She pressed it again and then again.

"Hey Cath." Warrick appeared around the doorway. She looked up and smiled. "Brass just gave me this to give to you." He handed her a photograph. She looked from it to the image on the desk in front of her. "Her mother just brought it in. She was worried when she didn't come home from work last night."

"Miranda James." Catherine sighed. "She was right to be worried." The images matched. She had identified her victim. "Did Brass say where she worked?"

"No, but he was outside on the phone if you want to speak to him. He might still be there."

"Thanks Warrick." She stood up and breezed past him with a smile. Quickly, she made her way down the corridor, her heels clicking loudly as she walked.

"Catherine." She spun around to see Jim Brass coming up behind her.

"I was just coming to find you." She smiled.

"Guess I just made your job a whole lot easier then." He smirked. "So, is this our girl?" He gestured to the photographs that she had tightly clutched in her hand.

"Afraid so."

"I suppose I better go and tell her mother." He said with a sigh. He hated that part of his job and in all the years he had been doing it, it never got any easier.

"Let's just hope we can find out what happened to her." Catherine said sympathetically. "Do you know where she worked? I could go and speak to her boss, see what time she left and if there was anyone with her."

"Yeah, her mother said she worked as a waitress as the 'French Palace'. That's only a couple of streets from where we found her."

"The French Palace?" Catherine said, wanting be one hundred percent certain that she had heard him right.

"Yeah. Why?" She closed her eyes and ran her hand though her hair with a sigh.

"No reason." She lied. "Look, I have to speak to Grissom quickly. Let me know how it goes with her mother ok?"

"Ok." He said slightly confused by her reaction to what he had just told her. She hurried away from him towards Grissom's office, silently cursing her bad luck as she went. It seemed fate was truly against her however as she reached his office to find him gone. With a heavy sigh, she lent back against the doorframe and closed her eyes. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her past life or her past career choice, but she hated it when it interfered with her new life, which was one that she was justifiably much more proud of.

"Waitress at the French Palace." She mumbled. "Waitress my ass."

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**I hope you liked it?! Please, please let me know! Go on and review, make a girls day, you know you want to!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi all. Sorry for the delay in posting this latest chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter for me, it was much appreciated. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this latest update.**

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It hadn't taken long for Grissom to realise that he had indeed let down Sara, and Nick for that matter, in their confrontation with Ecklie. It wasn't long after he came upon this realisation that he decided he would have to go after her. So after a minor detour down to autopsy on Al Robbins request, he got into his car and drove to her apartment. He was now sitting outside in the car park, staring up at her window. He had in fact, been sitting there for the best part of an hour but hadn't yet plucked up the courage to get out of the safety of his vehicle, let alone go and knock on her door. Nick was right, Sara was upset, and not just about what had happened between her and the reporter and the consequences that followed it. He felt that he was at least partly to blame for whatever else it was that was hurting her. Maybe it was keeping her for such long shifts and calling her in early, or snapping at her on the phone, or maybe it was just that he was in a foul mood and was projecting it onto her. Either way, Sara was upset and he had a chance now to try and help. He moved his hand from his lap and rested it on the door handle, toying again with the idea of going up to speak to her. He tapped his fingers on the plastic, frustration growing at his own indecision. When the gentle drumming of his fingers in itself became frustrating, Grissom drew in a deep breath and finally opened the car door, ready to do what he came here for.

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Sara was curled up on the sofa having long given up on the idea of sleep. Even though she was exhausted, her mind was so full of questions and rushing emotions that she simply couldn't shut down. It hadn't been long after she had gotten home that, much to her disgust, the tears had started falling. She wasn't sure what it was she was crying for really but it surprised her that she felt a little better for it. When the tears had subsided, she had showered and changed into sweatpants and an oversized jumper, then laid on her bed in the darkness. It took a lot not to cry again then, in the dark and the quiet, alone with her thoughts for the first time in what seemed like days. And now here she was, on her sofa, still alone. Not that she especially wanted to talk to anyone; she had learned to cope with her problems and her feelings alone a long time ago, but it would have been nice in a way to have some company. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been sitting there when she became aware of a faint tapping at her window. The first couple of times she chose to ignore it but as it persisted she ventured over to the window to investigate. She peeked open the curtains just enough to allow her to see out to the car park. It was starting to get light outside but she had to allow her eyes to adjust for a moment before she could see. Just as she was beginning to focus something hit the window in front of her. She jumped backwards, letting the curtain fall closed again. She breathed out slowly, allowing the pounding of her heart to lessen before she stepped forwards to look out again. To her surprise, below her in the car park was Greg Saunders, holding what looked like a stone in his hand, ready to launch it up to her window. He looked up and saw her there and gave a shy wave. Rolling her eyes, Sara pulled the curtain back fully and opened the window a crack.

"Greg, what are you doing here?" She called down to him, keeping her voice as quiet as possible while still allowing him to hear her, for fear of waking her neighbours.

"You weren't answering your phone." He said.

"There was a reason for that Greg." There was a pause in which Greg frowned up at the girl above him, but the dim lighting made it impossible for Sara to see this subtle gesture of concern.

"I saw you leave the lab earlier. You looked pretty upset." He said. "I was worried." Sara's face softened at this and she sighed.

"Do you want to come up?"

"Only if that's ok." He said shyly.

"Yeah. Yeah of course." She stepped back from the window pulling it shut. Greg took this as his cue to head inside and up to her apartment. Neither he nor Sara noticed through the whole encounter that they were being watched from across the car park but as Greg left, their observer, Gil Grissom, slipped quietly back into his car and drove away.

Less than a minute later Sara heard a knock at her door, which she answered without hesitation to greet the man on the other side.

"Hi."

"Hey." She stepped aside to let him past. "Can I get you anything? Coffee maybe?" She offered once he was inside and she had shut the door.

"Sure." He shrugged, settling himself at one of the chairs by the breakfast bar as she set about brewing the coffee. They were silent for a while as he watched her work. She was as meticulous at home doing this menial task as she was with her work he noticed. After a short time he spoke.

"So you want to tell me what's going on?" He asked bluntly. Sara slowly turned around to face him but continued to play anxiously with the teaspoon she held in her hand.

"Not especially no." She said honestly. "But seen as you came all the way over here to ask I guess I owe you an explanation huh?"

"Well, uh, yeah I hope so." Greg said, feeling a little uncomfortable. "But you know if you don't want to talk about it, we can talk about something else." She smiled at this.

"No, it's ok. You'll probably find out anyway." She said sadly. Greg frowned, his concern growing only further when she fell silent again and began to slowly pour the fresh steaming coffee into two cups. The only sound was that of the liquid splashing against the porcelain and the aroma of coffee filled the room. Greg breathed it in, momentarily relishing the scent but then remembered why he was there.

"Sara?" She sighed and walked over to him, placing down the cups before pulling up the chair opposite him.

"Ecklie sent me home." She began slowly. "There was a reporter in the car park when I got back from a scene earlier, asking about the Christo Martin case. I should have told Grissom about it but I didn't and then all the papers got hold of the information and it's been splashed all over the news."

"But why are they blaming you? I mean you didn't say anything to the reporter right?"

"No, no of course not." She said shaking her head in denial. "But maybe if I had said something Ecklie could have done some damage control before the news got out."

"So what's the big news?" Greg pushed.

"That he was sleeping with a prostitute the night he died." Greg took sharp breath letting it hiss as he exhaled.

"So the dead woman was…"

"Yeah." Sara nodded. "So now there is this big media frenzy and I'm fairly sure I've pissed Nick off, and Catherine, and Grissom…" She ran a hand back through her hair and sighed. "It's just such a mess." Greg smiled sympathetically, but then something she had just said hit him.

"Wait, why would Nick be angry? Or Catherine?"

"Nicky saw the guy in the car park too and said I should tell Grissom but I didn't so he ended up having to do it himself and Catherine… well she…" She paused, not really sure how to finish the sentence.

"She what?" Greg prompted after a moment. Sara pulled up the sleeve on her right arm to reveal the angry looking bruises beneath by way of an explanation.

"She saw these and well, you know how she is."

"He did that to you?" Greg almost gasped. Sara nodded, pulling the jumper hastily back down over her arm to once again conceal the marks. "Does Grissom know about that?"

"I guess so. I mean I didn't tell him but I assume Nick…" She closed her eyes and groaned inwardly as it dawned on her that Nick might not have told Ecklie or Grissom the whole story. "I shouldn't have just assumed that should I? I mean Nick probably didn't even think to tell them." She dropped her elbows to the table and rested her forehead in her hand. "I shouldn't have gotten so annoyed."

"You didn't shout at him did you?" Sara opened her eyes and glared across at him.

"Give me some credit Greg."

"Ok sorry." He said smiling sweetly. She smiled back half-heartedly. "So are you ok?"

"Yeah I guess so." She said shrugging, looking down at the steam rising in swirls from her coffee cup. Greg raised an eyebrow, unconvinced by her words.

"You sure about that?" She looked up at him and saw concern emanating from his blue eyes.

"I don't know." She said shrugging again. "I'm just tired you know." She wrapped her hands around her mug. "It's been a rough few days." Greg frowned.

"Is there something else you're not telling me about?" Sara sighed and shook her head her letting dark hair fall across her face.

"I wish I knew Greg I really do." Greg would swear her heard her voice cracking but she was determined not to breakdown again. Something was very wrong with Sara but Greg just couldn't place it. She seemed a far cry from her usual self, deflated and unfocused.

"Sara… I know there is something bothering you and you don't have to tell me what it is…" She looked up at him and opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her by placing a hand on her arm. "But if there is anything I can do to make you feel better…"

"Watch a movie with me?" She said suddenly, not sure where her words had come from. Not so long ago she had just wanted to be alone but it was nice to have a friend here.

"What?"

"Just stay here and watch a movie with me. Please."

"I can do that." He said smiling, pleased that she was letting him help, letting him in. The way she had been acting lately and the way she had looked when she had left the lab earlier had him worried that she would burn herself out. Maybe this way he could stop that happening.

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**TBC... ASAP!!!**

**Thanks for reading. I would love if you left me a quick review :) Go on, make me smile.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi. As promised here is the next chapter for you to take a look at. I hope you like it. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chpater. The response to it was amazing so I can only hope I do not disapoint with chapter 7.**

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"Hey Sara, don't fall asleep." Greg nudged his friend's arm to try and get her attention. She groaned and turned her face into his shoulder.

"I won't." She mumbled. They had been sitting on the sofa watching a mindless film on TV and at some point Greg had become aware that Sara was leaning her slight body against him, her head lolling onto his shoulder, her eyes falling closed. It wasn't that he minded her falling asleep on him but she was obviously exhausted and he thought it was a much better idea for her to sleep in her bed rather than on his shoulder.

"Hey come on." He said gently, smiling at her sleepy motions. "Let's get you to bed ok." She didn't respond. "Sara?"

"Um-hum." She still made no attempt to move so Greg slipped his hand around her waist and began to puller her up.

"I'm ok Greg." She said forcing her eyes open. "I can do it." But even as she spoke her weight began to sway back into his arms and he was sure if he hadn't been there she would have ended up on the floor.

"Yeah ok Sara," He said, suddenly very worried by her apparently weak state. "Come on." Without any further attempt to protest Sara let Greg lead her across the room and into her bedroom where she flopped ungracefully onto the edge of her bed. "Sara is Griss expecting you in tonight?" He asked as he flicked on the lamp beside her bed.

"Yeah." She breathed.

"Maybe you should call in and say you can't make it."

"No I'm ok." She said, closing her eyes and taking a slightly shaky breath.

"Sara?" Greg quickly knelt in front of her alarmed at how pale she was and at the way her body trembled slightly. He took hold of both her arms when she didn't respond to try and get her attention. "Sara, you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine." She said lifting a heavy hand and rubbing her tired eyes. "I just need some sleep." She looked down at the younger man in front of her and could see how worried he was. "Really Greg, I said I'm ok." She shuffled back on the bed and picked her legs up beside her. "I just need some sleep." She said again as she laid herself down. Greg helped her to pull the duvet up over herself and stood back as she closed her eyes and gave a heavy sigh. He was reluctant to leave her when she was clearly not herself but didn't see that there was any other option. So he quietly slipped out of the room and left her to sleep promising himself that he would speak to her again that night at work.

* * *

Catherine Willows was not in a good mood. Upon her arrival that night at the lab she had been greeted by half a dozen reporters all shouting questions at her in a rather unruly fashion about a case she had nothing to do with, not that they would believe that of course, and now despite wandering the halls of CSI for the best part of fifteen minutes, she was still yet to find the shift supervisor. She strode along the familiar path to his office for the third time that night and let out an exacerbated sigh when she founded it empty again. She turned on her heels, her blond hair swinging out behind her, and began her march back towards the break room. She heard heavy footsteps coming along the corridor towards her and looked up to see Grissom coming in her direction.

"Gil." She called. "I need to speak to you." He was at her side now and she turned to follow him back towards his office without waiting to see if this was a convenient time to talk.

"Now?"

"Yes now Gil. Well really I needed to speak to you last night but I couldn't find you and I tried calling you but you didn't pick up your phone."

"I was busy." He said, omitting to tell Catherine what he was so busy with. He wasn't sure that sitting outside a colleague's apartment waiting to pluck up the courage to apologise to her was a fair excuse for ignoring his duties as supervisor.

"Want to tell me what with?" She demanded as they reached his office and she followed him through the door. He went over to his desk and sat down, placing his forearms on the table and having to look up to her slightly as he spoke.

"What can I help you with Catherine?" He asked, avoiding her question entirely. She let out an exacerbated sigh and rolled her eyes as she sat down uninvited opposite him.

"It's my case." She said. "I need to hand it over to someone else."

"May I ask why?" He asked in what Catherine found to be a frustratingly clam voice.

"I have a… conflict of interest." She said, choosing her words carefully. Grissom raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I used to work at the same place as the victim."

"And you think that one of her colleagues may be involved?"

"I don't know, but there is a chance yes and I don't want to risk compromising the case by getting involved. Besides," She sighed. "It's not really somewhere I want to go back to."

"Why, where does she work?" Grissom asked without thinking.

"At the uh, French Palace." She said, slightly embarrassed. Grissom continued to look at her blankly. "Where I used to work as a dancer." She rolled her eyes again as she had to spell it out to him. Clearly his mind was not fully focused on her. Grissom cleared his throat, embarrassed a little himself now.

"Oh right. Well, I guess you better hand it over then."

"To who?"

"I don't know. Give it to Sara." He said, saying the first name that came into his head.

"But Gil, Sara…" Her protests were cut short by the ringing of his phone. He pulled it from his pocket and studied the screen, his facing remaining emotionless.

"I need to take this." He said. "Ecklie." Catherine stood up, nodding to show that she understood and left to find Sara. She knew that the last thing Sara needed really was another case to handle. She already had half a dozen open cases, including one that was very high profile, and the girl was obviously exhausted. She had heard about what had happened between her and Ecklie the previous night and knew that Sara would not make such a stupid error in judgement under normal circumstances, but never the less, an order was an order so she would have to hand her case over to Sara. She walked the whole length of the corridor, looking into every room as she passed but couldn't find the other woman anywhere. She frowned and turned back to look again in the direction she had just come from. Greg came out of the AV lab as Catherine was passing and she stopped him, knowing he and Sara were working a case together and thinking he might know where she was.

"Hey Greg. You seen Sara anywhere?"

"No." He said, a faint hint of worry crossing his face. "I've been looking for her since the start of the shift. I don't think she's here yet." Catherine looked down at her watch.

"Shift started half an hour ago. It's not like Sara to be late."

"No." His voice was tense as he spoke.

"What is it Greg?" Catherine asked. Her years of working as a CSI had left her with a great ability to notice when something was not right, and although she couldn't place exactly what it was that had Greg looking so agitated, she knew there was something on his mind.

"Nothing." He said shaking his head.

"Greg?" She pushed, knowing he was lying.

"Ok. It's just that I went around to Sara's apartment last night, you know after everything that happened, just to see that she was ok, and she seemed really… out of it."

"Out of it?"

"Yeah. I mean she was obviously pretty upset about what had happened, not like crying upset, but then Sara doesn't do crying right?"

"Right." Catherine agreed.

"But, I don't know, there was something not right about her. And she was totally exhausted, like she was actually shaking because of how tired she was."

"You think maybe she called in sick?" Catherine suggested, concerned by this news.

"I kind of hope she has but I doubt it. I told her she should last night but she insisted she was fine." Catherine sighed.

"Ok then, well I guess we just wait and see."

"I guess so." Greg agreed. Catherine nodded at the young man and left to go and find an alternative to Grissom's suggestion of Sara as the best person to hand her case over to. There was no way now, given what Greg had just told her, that she was going give Sara anymore to worry about than she already had.

* * *

"Grissom." He recognised the voice coming from the doorway of his office immediately. He looked up and smiled at the woman who was addressing him. "Can I have word?" He slowly removed his glasses and placed them down on his desk.

"Take a seat." She nodded and did as she was told, her long legs carrying her slowly over to his desk. She sat awkwardly with her hands folded in her lap.

"I just wanted to apologise for yesterday." She said. "I know it was wrong of me to not speak to you about what happened in the car park…"

"Why didn't you tell me he hurt you?" Grissom asked calmly.

"He didn't. Not really."

"That's not what Nick tells me."

"It's just a couple of bruises." She said dismissively. "I've had worse." She added without thinking. Grissom looked down at his desk, avoiding her eyes. He hated to think about what she had been through in her past. It was not long ago that she had confessed everything to him, pouring her heart out to him after Ecklie had suspended her for insubordination. Things had been good between them then for a while but now they seem to have drifted apart again.

"They were outside earlier, the press." She said, more to fill the silence than anything else.

"Yes. But Ecklie has made a statement and we are simply to take the stance we always do: Tell them nothing." Sara nodded feeling a little annoyed that he even felt the need to tell her this. Silenced filled the room again. Sara looked down at her hands, mapping the contours of her skin on her knuckles.

"Was there something else?" Grissom asked, his voice sounding harsh among the silence. She looked up to him, biting the inside of her bottom lip.

"I uh, I'm sorry I'm a little late for the start of the shift." She said quietly. "I must have forgotten to set my alarm." The truth was she didn't even really remember getting into bed but had just woken up there realising there was only half an hour until her shift was supposed to start.

"That's not like you Sara." Grissom observed. As it was, he hadn't known that she was late at all until now, but the news did worry him slightly.

"I know." She sighed "I'm sorry." Grissom shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Is everything ok Sara?"

"Of course." She lied. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I just wanted to make sure." Grissom said after a moment. "I'm your supervisor, I need you to tell me if there is something worrying you." He regretted the words even as he was saying them. He should just have said what he was thinking, that he cared about her and worried about her and that he wanted to be with her, but he couldn't do it.

"Well there's not." She said curtly. She could feel a lump forming in her throat, a warning of the tears that were begging to fall. "Are we done?" Grissom simply nodded. "I'll see you later Grissom." She said as she quietly crept from the room.

* * *

**TBC...**

**What did you think? I really hope you like it! I know there are a few loose ends hanging there but they will be picked up in the next chapter I promise!**

**I would love it if you left me a review, seen as it's nearly christmas and all :)**

**Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone and happy new year! Sorry it has taken such an epically long time to update this story but I have finally finished the chapter so here it is. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Sara shuffled into the toxicology lab desperate to just get back to concentrating on her case so she could forget all the other complications in her life. She smiled at the sight that greeted her: Henry, surrounded by dozens of test tubes and chemicals looking rather dishevelled, his safety goggles slipping down his nose and his lab coat sporting big black stain.

"Have I come at a bad time?" She joked, leaning against the doorframe, her smile only widening as Henry looked over to her and glared.

"That depends on which of the literally dozens of cases it is that you want results for."

"Busy huh?"

"'Backed up' does not even describe it." He grumbled.

"Well it's the uh, Christo Martin case." She said. "But I can always come back later?"

"Oh yeah, that's a big case." Henry said. "And I think I might have the results to make it bigger."

"Really?" She held back a chuckle at the delighted look on his face.

"Yeah really. Let me just find them for you." He picked up a stack of papers and began to flick through them, stopping when he came across the one he was looking for. He handed the sheet over to Sara triumphantly. She studied it carefully.

"Diacetyl Morphine. Heroin?"

"Heroin." He confirmed.

"And the Jane Doe?"

"Clean." He said handing her the results for the other victim too. Sara sighed. "What your not pleased?" Henry looked deflated to say the least.

"No, no I am." She reassured him. "It's just that drugs are not something we have come across in the investigation yet."

"So maybe it's a new lead." He said hopefully.

"Yeah maybe." She smiled. "Thanks Henry." With that she left the lab tech to his work and went to find Nick to share the results with him. She found him with little difficulty, working away in one of the layout rooms.

"Hi." She said, pulling his attention away from the evidence he was studying.

"Oh hi Sara." He turned and smiled at her as she came over to stand beside him. "What you got there?"

"Results from Henry. Our guy had heroin in his system."

"Heroin?" He took the results sheet from her hand and studied it. "I guess that shouldn't be too much of a surprise. A high powered celebrity living in Vegas, which of them isn't on drugs." He said cynically.

"But we didn't find any drug paraphernalia at the house." Sara reminded him.

"That's true." He said thoughtfully. "But then we didn't do a full search of the entire house. We had no need to at the time."

"We still don't. I mean we know he was on drugs, what else do we need to know about it?"

"Who his dealer was." Nick said. "We could check his phone records, see if there are any numbers on there that we recognise. We should get onto the manager too, see if he can point us in the right direction."

"You think the dealer is involved?"

"Well right now, it's probably the best we've got."

"Ok." Sara agreed. "I'm on it." She walked out the door and straight into Greg Sanders, who face instantly lit up with a relieved smile.

"Sara you're here."

"Yeah." She smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well I just thought…" He looked over his shoulder before continuing and on seeing David Hodges peering at them curiously through the window of his lab he took hold of Sara's arm and hustled her back into the layout room, ignoring Nick presence.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." She said quietly, flicking her eyes to look at Nick at who dropped his gaze down to the table, pretending to not be listening to their conversation.

"You seemed pretty out of it last night." He pushed.

"Yeah sorry about that. I guess I was more tired than I thought." Greg frowned. "Look Greg," She said, abruptly changing the subject, not wanting to talk about it, especially not in front of Nick. "I need to go and call Brass. I'll catch you later." She slipped out of the room past him, leaving Greg standing in the doorway, watching her walk away.

"You want to tell me what that was about?" Nick asked, breaking the silence. Greg turned to him quickly, looking almost surprised that he was not alone in the room.

"Um, it's nothing." He said.

"Greg?" Nick sounded just the same as Catherine had earlier, but Greg resisted the temptation to roll his eyes before answering with a sigh.

"Sara… well I went around to hers after the shift last night and she just didn't seem like herself."

"I know what you mean." Nick sighed.

"You do?"

"Yeah. She has seemed really distracted for the past couple of nights. I mean I know she's tired but hell, that girl is known for being able to run on four hours sleep and a dozen cups of coffee."

"Yeah well she was barely running at all last night. Honestly Nick I thought she was going to pass out or something, she looked terrible."

"Have you told Grissom?" Nick asked, alarmed by this news.

"I told Catherine. Why, do think Griss needs to know?"

"I'd say."

"She won't like it." Greg said knowingly. If there was anyone who wanted her private life to be just that, private, it was Sara. If she knew that even Catherine and Nick were aware of what had happened that morning she would have something to say to Greg about it for sure.

"She'll like it less if she burns herself out altogether and she not far from doing just that by the sounds of it."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am Greggo, I always am." Nick smiled. "Has it taken you thins long to realise it."

"Ok, ok." Greg grinned. "And since you were so right, do you want to go and speak to the boss man about this instead of me? I don't want to incur the wrath of Sara"

"Nice try Greg." Nick said shaking his head.

"Ok fine." He sighed. "I'll be going then."

* * *

Grissom held off a shiver as he walked down the corridor towards the morgue. He pulled a lab coat on over his shirt, glad to add another layer to his outfit. He pushed open the heavy door but stopped in the threshold as he realised Al was already busy.

"It's ok Gil" Al said, seeming to sense his friends presence. "We're just about done here." Grissom nodded and let go of the door so it swung shut behind him with bang. He thought for a moment about the men that were working in the room before him and frowned.

"What case are you working Warrick?" He asked walking over to him as he spoke.

"Clare Pemberton, the dead girl who worked at the French Palace. Catherine handed it over to me, the whole 'conflict of interest' thing." Grissom eyes darkened.

"I told her to give that case to Sara."

"Oh, well I guess Sara has had a lot on her plate…" Warrick couldn't even finish his explanation for why Catherine had given him the case over Sara before Grissom was pulling off his lab coat and storming from the room.

"Seems like a bit of an over reaction don't you think?" Al said when he was sure the door had closed behind him so Grissom wouldn't hear.

"Yeah." Warrick sighed. "He's been acting pretty strangely lately."

"Well you know Grissom. Strange is his forte."

"Says the man with the album of pictures of dead bodies." Warrick smiled.

* * *

"Greg." Grissom growled as he walked into the room where Nick and Sara were working. He had immediately retuned up to the labs to find for his colleague and was not in the mood for searching. "Have you seen Catherine?"

"Afraid not." Grissom turned quickly on his heals to leave without another word but Sara's quiet voice stopped him.

"I saw her heading to the garage about ten minutes ago. You might find her there." Grissom looked for as moment as though he didn't know what to say to this but after a couple of awkward seconds he eventually thanked her and then stormed off towards the garage. He could hear the familiar rhythmic clicking of a pair of healed shoes ahead of him and looked up to see a flash of blond turn the corner.

"Catherine!" He shouted. She appeared around the corner with a confused frown on her face.

"Yeah?"

"I need to speak to you in my office."

"I was just…"

"Now Catherine." His harsh tone left no room for argument and she obediently followed him to his office. He dropped his files onto his desk and spoke without turning to look at her. "Shut the door please."

"Ok." She said slowly, doing as she was told. He turned to look at her now as he spoke.

"I was just speaking to Warrick down in the morgue." She frowned. "I thought I told you to give the Pemberton case to Sara."

"You did but I didn't see that it really mattered and Sara has had a lot on her plate…"

"Didn't matter? It matters Catherine when you directly disobey the orders of your supervisor."

"Oh Gil come on!" She said. "I didn't disobey you out of spite, I chose not to give the case to Sara because I didn't think she could handle it."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Or has it escaped your notice that the girl is falling apart at the minute? There is something wrong Gil and it's your job to notice these things and try and sort them out. Instead, you're so wrapped up in whatever it is that has got you in to this foul mood that you are ignoring your team!"

"In case you haven't noticed Catherine," He snarled. "The lab is rather busy at the minute and unfortunately I cannot be everywhere at once."

"So instead you're choosing to be nowhere? Or at least nowhere that is of any help to any of us!" Grissom opened his mouth to answer back but was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

"An example of the busy I was talking about." He said as he flipped open the phone and lifted it to his ear. "Yes…I know… Can it wait… Fine, I'll be down in a minute." He flipped the phone shut and sighed. "Al needs me in autopsy. We'll have to continue this later." Catherine's jaw dropped and she had to try very hard to not scream at him. He was beyond frustrating at times. Grissom grabbed the files from his desk and made his way past her to the door, not noticing in his hurry that a sheet of paper from his desk fell to the floor behind him. Catherine picked it up and tuned it over, curious to see what it was. What she found shocked her to say the least.

"What's this?" She asked weakly. He slowly turned back to face her, his face falling when he realised what it was she had in her hand.

"Just what it says." He said simply. "A job offer From WLVU."

"Are you going to take it?"

"Would it matter? As I am ignoring my team, maybe it would be better if I did leave."

"Before all of this." She said, feeling a little guilty now for her words. "Were you going to take it?"

"I don't know." He said honestly. "I seriously considered it yes."

"Were you ever planning on telling me?"

"I was going to give you my job." He said by way of an answer to her question. Neither of them said anything for what seemed like both to be an eternity.

"Do you always read other people's mail?" He asked.

"No." She pouted. "Just that that falls at my feet." He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have an autopsy to go to?" He nodded and opened the door. "Gil." She stopped him just before he left. "I'm sorry." He didn't respond. "Are we ok?" She asked, knowing how pathetic she must sound. She heard him sigh but again he didn't answer, just left without speaking. Now, stood alone in his office, she felt especially guilty for what she had said. She always hated arguing with Gil, they were great friends most of the time, but this argument seemed particularly horrible. Although the same could not always be said for Grissom, she had always held back from being directly hurtful or offensive towards him until now. She bit her lip and looked again at the letter. She had to admit, a lecturing post at the university was a great opportunity for Grissom and after the way she had just spoken to him it wouldn't surprise her if he did leave. She carefully folded the letter and slipped it back onto his desk then left, closing the door behind her. She lent back against the door and closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh.

"Hey Cath." Warrick's deep voice broke her train of thought. "You ok there?"

"Oh Warrick, hey." She flashed him a quick smile. "I hear you spoke to Grissom."

"Yeah. Didn't get you into trouble did I?" He asked.

"What? Oh no, it's fine." She smiled, hoping that it was. Warrick nodded and smiled then carried on down the corridor. "Warrick?" She called after him, making him turn back to her. "You want to get a drink after the shift? I could really do with some company."

* * *

**TBC...**

**Hope it was worth the wait?! As always, your reviews are very much appreciated. I hope to get the next chapter up soon for you all.**

**Thanks for reading. x**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey. First of all, thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter for me: gsrfan34, SylvieT, LittleSpooky, sixtyplus and Famous4it.**

**I know this chapter is a lttle short but I wanted to end it here so it did not end up being epically long and also it just seemed like a good place to finish! Hope you like it anyway and I will try and update soon.**

* * *

Although the bar was very crowded when they arrived, the CSI's did manage to find themselves some seats around a table in a relatively quiet corner. Warrick had persuaded Nick to join him in accompanying Catherine with little difficulty and the three of them had now been drinking for little over an hour. None of them were what you would exactly describe a drunk, but keeping up with the boys had led Catherine's inhibitions to slip just a little. They had all been talking very animatedly about nothing in particular when they first arrived but then Catherine's mind started to wander. She had been sat quietly for the last ten minutes of so, slowly tracing patterns in the condensation on the outside of her empty beer bottle. Warrick stopped the conversation mid sentence, nodding in Catherine's direction to draw Nick's attention to her withdrawnness. Nick frowned and considered the situation for a minute. Warrick had warned him that there was something up with her but he hadn't seen it until now.

"You want me to get you another one of those?" Nick asked, nudging her arm to get her attention.

"What?" She blinked at him, taking a moment to process what he had said. "Oh another drink? Yeah sure." She flashed him a smile but neither nick nor Catherine herself were convinced by it. "Isn't it my round?" She looked a Warrick for confirmation.

"Don't worry about it Cath." Nick cut in before Warrick could answer. "You just get the next one." He shuffled off his seat, giving Warrick a look that told him he was leaving the two of them alone together for a reason. Something was clearly bothering Catherine and Warrick was the most likely person, besides Grissom perhaps, who could drag it out of her. It didn't take long for Warrick to take the hint and get down to business. He moved himself a little closer to his friend, looking down to try and catch her eye, but it was obvious her mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Busy in here tonight huh." He said.

"Sure is." She gripped the slim bottle in one hand and pushed it further away from her so she could rest her forearms on the table.

"It feels like we haven't had a chance to come out for a drink together in ages." He continued with the small talk, hoping it might encourage her to open up to him without a prompt.

"We've just been so busy lately." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Warrick frowned. Clearly he was going to have to push her on this.

"Is everything alright Cath? You seem a little distant tonight." She turned and looked up to meet his deep green eyes. She chewed the inside of her bottom lip nervously and dropped her hands to her lap. She looked away, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry Warrick. I dragged you here tonight and now I'm just sitting here… Guess I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Want to share?" He asked gently. She thought about this for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him so much as that she couldn't, not really. Clearly Grissom didn't want everyone to know about his job offer, although it went a long way towards explaining his recent behaviour. But that wasn't the only thing that was playing on her mind.

"I did something stupid today and I think I might have really hurt someone I care about." She said slowly, keeping it vague.

"Is this someone a person I know?" She nodded.

"I thought he was being unreasonable and I said some things I don't think I really meant."

"You don't think?"

"Well it's not that I didn't mean it, I did, but I could have handled it better… a lot better in fact." She looked at him, searching for some kind of reassurance.

"Look Cath," He started. "If this person is who I think it is,"

"Who?" She asked quickly. She hadn't meant it to be so obvious.

"Grissom?" She put her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands, nodding. "I'm sure you can't have said anything that would offend him that much. He'll probably go home, think it over, realise that what you have said is right and be over it by tomorrow night."

"Ugh I hope so." She mumbled. "I was just so… angry. He was giving me such a hard time when I gave you that case with good reason. I wasn't going to give it to Sara and there was no way I was going to keep it." She stopped herself. She hadn't meant to tell Warrick that the argument had come about because of her giving him the Pemberton case, not wanting him to feel in anyway responsible. She sighed. It was too late now. "It's not that I'm ashamed of what I did in my past, I mean it was a job after all and it brought in more money than anything Eddie ever did… it's just that I didn't want people talking about it." She paused again and lent back in her chair, closing her eyes. "I didn't want to go back there again if I didn't have to." She said quietly.

"Cath…"

"Besides," She carried on without hearing him. "I wouldn't have exactly been impartial. Not even against the guys who run the place, I'm still in touch with some of them and they are good guys, certainly treated me ok anyway. It's the customers that were the hard part. It was fine when they stuck to the 'look but don't touch rule' but when they didn't…"

"Cath…" He wasn't sure what to say to that, he didn't want to pry. He placed a strong hand of her shoulder and it gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Ugh Warrick I'm sorry. You don't need to listen to all of this." She ran a hand through her hair, pulling it back from her face. "Maybe I should just go." She went to stand up but Warrick pushed her back down.

"You don't have to leave."

"No I think I should." She said laughing slightly. "I have already said more than I meant to. I should know better than to try and out drink you boys by now." She gave him a smile, which he reciprocated, but then her face became serious again. "Thank you though. I needed to just… you know…"

"Yeah I know. We all have those days." Warrick assured her. She stood up again and grabbed her jacket, draping it over her arm.

"Say bye to Nick for me?"

"Will do." She smiled and turned to walk away but was stopped by Warrick speaking again. "You want me to walk you out to a cab?"

"No I'll be fine."

"Ok well take care alright." He called after her as she made her way through the crowd and out into the street. She breathed in the muggy air, taking a moment to enjoy the relative quiet of the outside world before beginning a slow walk down the street to look for a taxi. It wasn't long before one was pulling up at the curb beside her.

"Can you take me to West Vale Drive please." She said to the driver once she was inside. She sat back in the seat looking out at the ever-busy strip as it passed by. What it was that made her change her mind about where she wanted to go she wasn't sure, and if she was honest with herself she knew from the outset that it wasn't a great idea, but once she had decided there was no going back.

"Actually, can you take me The French Palace instead please?"

"The French Palace? Didn't think that would be your kind of place." The drive said. She could see him smirking at her in the rear-view mirror but chose to ignore it. "Hoping for a little girl-on-girl action are you?" Catherine rolled her eyes.

"What if I was?" The driver laughed. "But no, as it happens, I'm not."

"So what, you work there or something?"

"Not anymore." She said. She had hoped to say it quiet enough for him not to hear but apparently the guy had a very sensitive set of ears. The car stopped at a set of traffic lights and she could feel him looking at her.

"Not anymore? So what you used to?" She chose to ignore him again. "You want to show me some of that action?"

"Ugh you know what forget it." She pulled ten dollars from her purse and thrust it in his direction. "I'll just get out here." The stupidity of her decision to redirect to her old place of employment had just dawned on her but there was no way she was going to let this creep drive her home now.

"Ok, but it'll be your loss." She opened the door and swung her legs out.

"Yeah right." She stepped onto the pavement, "Pervert" And slammed the door shut.

* * *

**So nothing overly dramatic but I promise there was a point to it and the next chapter has lot more in store!!! Reviews spur me on to write faster so no pressure people!**

**Thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok guys. Here is the next chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed the last one for me. I'm getting tantalizingly close to breaking my review record so please please keep up the good work!!!!**

**Hope you like this new update. It's going to be a bit of a turning point for the whole story so I hope it's a good read.**

* * *

It was the beginning of another shift. Nick and Sara sat in the break room with their case files spread across the table between them, two cups of steaming coffee filling the room with their earthy aroma. The influx on new cases seemed to have slowed that night giving the CSI's a chance to really concentrate on their ongoing case, something that in itself was set to keep them busy for days.

"So what have we got?" Nick said, tapping a pen on the edge of the table as he spoke, ready to write down a summary of the case so far, anything that would help them to progress it a little further.

"Well, we know Christo Martin was with a prostitute, who's name we still don't know, on the night he died." Sara began. "They were both shot with the same gun. There were no matches to the bullets in the ballistics database so that hasn't really got us anywhere."

"Right, and he had heroin in his system but she was clean."

"That's probably not surprising if it was him that bought the drugs rather than her. I mean you wouldn't share your stash with a prostitute right?" Sara picked up her coffee mug and cradled it in both hands letting the steam rise up around her face.

"Right." Nick nodded his agreement. It didn't seem like an unreasonable assumption. "We haven't got a name for the dealer yet?"

"No. Brass said the manager told him Christo insisted he was clean. He had been into drugs a couple of years ago but had dropped the habit."

"Well apparently he picked it back up again." Nick said.

"But what if this was just a recent thing." Sara said after a moments consideration. "I mean it must be hard to hide from your manager that you're getting high. Did the doc find lots of needle marks on the body?" Nick picked up the coroners report and scanned down the page.

"Hmm… it says there was evidence of needle marks in both arms. That's why he got the blood work done."

"If it was in both arms I guess that blows the 'recent habit' theory."

"I don't know," Nick sighed. "This is all a little sex, drugs and rock and roll for my liking." Sara laughed bitterly.

"This is Vegas Nicky, what did you expect?" He shrugged and took a huge gulp of his own coffee before continuing.

"So what now?"

"The prints we lifted?"

"All accounted for except for two sets, neither of which were in the database."

"Great." Sara shook her head and tried to stifle a yawn.

"Keeping you up Sara?" Nick smiled.

"Something like that." She ran a hand through her hair, pulling it back from her face. Nick noticed now how pale she was but pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"Don't these famous people have like surveillance cameras and stuff in their houses?" Sara suggested.

"As nice as that would be, unfortunately not in this case."

"What about the other houses on the street? Maybe there is someone else with cameras that caught something." She said hopefully.

"I guess it's worth a try but it's going to take some leg work."

"Well we better get to it then." She smiled, finishing the last of her coffee and standing up.

"Tell you what," Nick said, doing the same. "Why don't I go and try get hold of some tapes and you stay here and work on your other cases." Sara frowned. Nobody like trailing the streets on their own so it seemed like an odd suggestion on Nick's part. "What I mean is, you have that case with Greg right?" Sara nodded. "Stay and give the newby a hand, keep him on the right track and out of Catherine and Grissom's hair. You'll get it closed much faster with both of you working on it." Sara was still a little suspicious but she had to admit it would be good to try and get her other case closed and getting the surveillance tapes was not really a two-person job.

"You sure?"

"Of course." The fact was that although what Nick had said was true he also thought that the last thing it looked like Sara needed was to be wandering up and down the streets. He still felt bad about telling Ecklie about the incident with the reporter before Sara had a chance to and if he could make it up to her this way he would.

"Thanks Nick, I'll go and find Greg." She tucked her files under her arm and made her way from the room calling to him over her shoulder, "Good luck."

* * *

Catherine Willows stormed into the crime lab building with Jim Brass hot on her heals. She had just driven from the police station having carried out an interview that did not in any way go to plan. She was sure she had lost the detective, who had been following her in his car since she left the station, at the last set of traffic lights, but apparently not. She could hear him calling after her but she was in no mood to stop and talk and try to explain herself to him. Her plan had been to come back and hide herself away somewhere with her phone switched off until the situation had, in part at least, blown over but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. She made it to the top of the first flight of stairs before finally giving in and turning to acknowledge Bass's presence.

"Not now ok Jim." She shouted to him. He was a dozen or so steps behind her and she was sure she could easily outrun him if she tried to, after all he wasn't exactly in his prime, but what would be the point? It would only delay the inevitable. It was at times like this that playing the emotional card was perhaps the best option, even if it had little chance of working on him, as she knew it would.

"Look you either talk to me about it or you talk to Ecklie, it's your choice." He called up to her.

"Like I won't have to talk to him anyway." She rolled her eyes and carried on up the stairs.

"You won't necessarily. We can keep this between us and Grissom."

"Well me and Gil are not exactly on great terms right now." She sighed.

"And you're taking that out on the suspects?" He said accusatively. She turned and glared at him.

"I was not taking anything 'out on the suspect', he was out of line and you know it." She continued on her march, turning the corner to climb the last few steps.

"Catherine, this is not the first time you've had a suspect blow up at you but you usually have the good sense not to react the way you did." He could see her shaking her head as she pushed open the door out into the corridors of the labs. "At least tell me where you got the black eye?" She stopped and turned to face him again letting go of the door so it closed behind her with a gentle swish. He was stood level with her now, having quickened his pace when he realised his opportunity to make her talk was going to pass. She clenched her jaw and looked at him for a moment before answering.

"Like I said, it was nothing."

"Come on Cath, don't give me that." She looked to the floor and shook her head, her hair falling to hide her face from view. "Hey," Brass cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her face to his. "I'm just concerned about you, that's all. I'm not here to have a go…"

"Jim…" She smiled at him, resting her hand on his wrist to lower his hand from her face. "I just…" She paused again and sighed. There was no point in fighting him anymore. "I don't want to have to explain the whole thing twice. Can we just go and see Grissom and get this over with?"

"I'm surprised he hasn't already demanded an explanation." Brass said raising his eyebrow in astonishment. Admittedly Gil could be a little insensitive at times but it wasn't like him to ignore one of his team coming to work injured, especially given Catherine's history with Eddie.

"I haven't seen him today," She said slowly tucking her hair behind her ears, wincing slightly as her fingers brushed the mark on her cheek. "You called just as I was on my way in so I headed straight for the station. Besides," She continued sadly. "He has a lot of things on his mind and I'm pretty sure I'm not one them. I certainly don't deserve to be." Brass frowned. "Shall we go?" She suggested before he could ask her to explain herself. He nodded and held the door for her to pass then followed her down the corridor to the supervisor's office.

* * *

Greg and Sara were working in one of the labs layout room. Pictures of the assault victim filled the walls alongside a couple of images of the crime scene, which Greg had found on the basis of the victim's descriptions. As it happens the scene was not far from the area where Clare Pemberton had been found on the same night but there was nothing to suggest the two victims were linked. It was a known hot spot for crime in the city and if she was honest, it made Sara a little angry that women would be so naive as to walk around there alone at night. There were enough risks out there for these people without them putting themselves into situations where they were just asking for trouble.

"Do you want to walk it through for me Greg." Sara said, leaning back to perch on the edge of the table next to him, facing the array for horrid images.

"Ok," He said slowly. "So she had been in 'The Black Cats Bar' with her friends and left because she had to work the next day. She had been drinking. Levels of alcohol in her blood were not very high but probably enough to lower her inhibitions a little." Sara nodded her agreement then signalled for him to continue. He stood up and went over to the map on the wall behind them. Sara stood up too to face him. "It was just before twelve so she probably thought it would be safe to try and find a taxi by herself." He reasoned. "She was a local," He pointed to the map. "The bar is on this street and at that time, your best chance of catching a cab is on the strip, she would know that." He ran his finger over the map, following her most likely route to the main street. "This would be the quickest way to reach there."

"So her attacker must have seen her somewhere along those two streets." Sara finished.

"Right."

"So what's your plan Greg?" She asked, trying her best to train him up as they worked.

"Well I already checked to see if there had been any similar attacks in that area."

"And?"

"There was one, five months ago," He said picking up a copy of the file and handing it to her. "The case is still open. Day shift handled it."

"Any DNA?" She asked as she flicked through the pages of the report quickly, the images of this other girl in combination with the ones around her making her stomach churn.

"No. And we didn't have any either so we can't be sure they are related."

"Ok good." She put down the file and took a deep breath before continuing. "So what did you find at the scene?"

"There were some bloody prints on the side of this bin." He ran around the table to point at one of the photographs he had taken, depicting a large green bin with several blood red smears and prints on it. "All the ones that were full enough to run belonged to the victim though." Sara nodded and sat back against the table edge again. "I did find a shoe print though that didn't match the victim. Looks like a size 11 trainer maybe… I still need to run it through that database of sole prints but I don't really know how to do that." He admitted. He turned to look at Sara when she didn't answer him. "Sara?" He prompted. She looked up from the spot on the floor where she was trying to focus her vision, which seemed a little fuzzy all of a sudden. In fact everything seemed a little fuzzy.

"Ok Greg that's good." She managed.

"So can you show me how to use the database?" He asked her more directly. She ran a hand back through her hair, breathing out slowly.

"Sure." She pushed herself up to standing. "Just hold that thought ok, I'll be right back." She left the room, in search of water and somewhere cooler to sit for a while with Greg calling after her.

"Are you ok?" She heard him but didn't answer because she didn't really know. She walked into the locker room, her legs feeling as though they were not going to support her weight for much longer. The room was spinning dangerously around her and she suddenly didn't want to be in there alone anymore. Everything faded to a dull red, then flashed white. Then it all went black.

"Greg…" Was the last word she feebly managed to utter before dropping unconscious to the floor.

Less than a minute later Nick, shrugging off his jacket as he walked, came into the room to change shoes after returning from his surprisingly fruitful expedition to Hampton Drive. His eyes instantly fell to Sara's limp body on the floor, and dropping his jacket her ran to kneel at her side.

"Sara?" He said, anxiety filling his voice. "Sara can you hear me?" He got no response and his heart started pounding. He leapt up and looked out into the corridor, scanning the empty hallway before catching a glimpse of Greg in the layout room opposite him. "Greg!" He called. The younger man, sensing the urgency in his friends voice came to the doorway. "You need to help me." Greg took a couple of steps forward and caught a glimpse of Sara.

"Is that…" He couldn't finish before Nick cut him off.

"Go and get Grissom." Greg nodded and ran towards Grissom's office, just in time to see Brass and Catherine entering the room and pulling the door closed behind them.

"Wait." He called, grabbing the handle and pulling the door open again. He received a stern glare from all three of the rooms occupants for his actions but he didn't notice. "Griss, you've got to come quick. It's Sara!"

* * *

**... TBC...**

**Hope you liked it? Sorry if the timeline of the chapter isn't too clear- I hope you could follow it. I know there is a lot of stuff going on there. Anyway, please review so I know. It's the only way I can improve my writing and get to know if what I am doing is good or not!!!!**

**Thanks for still reading. **

**x**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi all. Thank you for the amazing feedback you gave me for the last chapter. I hope you all like this one as much. I know it has taken an age to get it posted but I have just been so busy this last couple of weeks! Enjoy...**

* * *

It was dark and warm and quiet. Sara opened her eyes, feeling disorientated and momentarily at a complete loss as to where she was. Then it all began to fit together: the bed, the room, the… pyjamas… ok so she had no idea how she had gotten into those, or for that matter how she had gotten home. She sat up, instantly regretting it as her head began to pound in protest. She pushed the bed covers away from her and let her feet drop to the ground, groaning slightly at the phenomenal amount of effort this simple task seemed to require. She shuffled towards the bedroom door, which lay slightly ajar, running her hand through her hair to try and tame it a little, but quickly giving up as she realised it was going to take much more effort than it was really worth. She hesitated at the door, hearing a noise coming from outside. She rested a hand on the door and pulled it open a little further, just enough to see into the kitchen. She gave a sigh of relief at what she saw and carried on too greet her friend in the kitchen.

"Nick?" He spun round, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

"Sara, you're awake." He rushed over to her and gave her a brief hug before pulling away and cautiously running his eyes over her. "How are you feeling?"

"Ok I guess." She smiled up at him. "Confused though." He took hold of her hand and led her to one of the stools at her breakfast bar.

"You don't remember what happened?"

"Um no." She frowned. "I was at work and then… I don't know, I wasn't feeling well and… um… well now I'm here, with a banging headache and you in my kitchen." She nervously laughed a little, not sure what else she should do. "Any chance you can fill in the rest?" She asked.

"Sara, I found you unconscious in the locker room." He said, frowning in concern. "You really don't remember?" She closed her eyes and groaned.

"Really? Ugh I thought that whole thing was some kind of weird dream."

"Afraid not." He sat opposite her and placed a glass of water and two Tylenol on the table.

"Thanks." She said quietly, taking the pills unquestioningly and drinking half the water. She considered the situation a moment longer, piecing together what little she could remember, all be it not very clearly. "Was Greg there?" She asked with a frown. Nick nodded. "And Doc Robbins?"

"Yeah, Grissom called him when Greg said…"

"Grissom? Ugh." She sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "This just keeps getting better." He felt bad for her, knowing how much she liked her privacy and knowing that virtually the entire team had seen her in a pretty vulnerable state.

"I'm sorry Sara, you just had me so worried, I had to get someone else involved." She shook her head, looking up at him.

"No Nick, I'm sorry…"

"Hey." He said, placing a hand on top of hers. "Don't be sorry. I'm just glad you're ok." She smiled.

"So what happened exactly?" She asked, embarrassed that she couldn't recall the vast majority of the events of the last few hours. She fixed her eyes on the table as he spoke.

"After I found you and couldn't get you to wake I called Greg to go and get Grissom,"

"You told him to do that! Why?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Because you wouldn't wake up Sara I didn't know what else to do!"

"Oh ok, sorry." She apologised. "Carry on." She dropped her head back into her hands as she listened to the rest of his story.

"Grissom called an ambulance but Greg said, quite rightly I expect, that you would flip if you woke up in a hospital bed," She raised her head just enough to give him a quick glare but didn't bother to object. "So he called Doc Robbins to come check on you too. By the time the paramedics arrived you were sort of awake but not fully and you just blacked out again every time you tried to sit up."

"Yeah, I think I remember that." She nodded. "It's a bit blurry though." She confessed.

"That doesn't surprise me." He said, smiling sympathetically.

"So what exactly did they say?" Sara asked after a moment, having processed what Nick had just told her.

"That you had probably just pushed yourself too hard, not been eating properly, not sleeping, working far too many hours. Sound familiar?"

"I guess so." She mumbled, nodding her head and dropping her hands to the table with a loud thud. "What the hell was in those tablets Nick and why are they not working?" She groaned, running her hands over her head again and settling her fingers over her temples, applying pressure as if to push the pain away.

"Just Tylenol. Do you want to lay down or something?" She shook her head. "Why don't you go and sit on the couch then and I'll get you some more water." He suggested, for lack of any other ideas to make her feel better. She silently slid from the stool and went to the sofa as instructed, to be joined by Nick a few seconds later.

"Thanks." She said, taking the glass he was offering and taking a few sips. "Wait," She looked at him and frowned. "How did I get home?"

"Cath and I brought you."

"And these?" She asked, pulling at her pyjama vest top.

"Don't worry, I didn't have anything to do with that." He smiled. "And Catherine barely had to help…"

"But she did have to?" Sara cringed. "God this is so embarrassing, and so… stupid." Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him so her head could rest against him. She closed her eyes and gave a heavy sigh.

"You know you should probably eat something." He said quietly.

"No." She mumbled. "I don't want to eat." He frowned.

"You want to tell me why, why you're not sleeping?"

"No."

"I want to help you Sara but I can't if you won't help me." He pushed.

"I don't know how. I don't know what I want." She said, agitation creeping into her voice. It was clear she did not handle being ill well. "I'm just so… tired."

"Then you need to rest."

"I know." She sighed quietly. "There is just so much going on at the minute, I can't seem to switch my brain off for long enough. I just keep thinking…" She stopped herself and sighed again. She could feel his eyes on her.

"What?" He asked gently.

"No, it, it's nothing." She stammered, pushing herself back up and away from him. She dropped her head, her eyes on the floor. They sat silently for moment, Nick watching her as she played nervously with her hands.

"You've been here the whole time?" Sara asked quietly, changing the subject.

"What?" Nick didn't understand.

"You brought me home and you're still here." She said, straightening up and turning to look at him. "You didn't have to do that."

"I was worried." He said simply. She gave him a quick, grateful smile, but then began to feel a little embarrassed. She hated people worrying about her.

"Thank you." She fell silent again for a moment and her mind began to wander a little. "You're not going to get in trouble for this are you, I mean for not taking me to the hospital? Is it not lab policy…"

"Catherine has that under control." He assured her. "You should probably go to see a doctor though, just to be sure." She nodded and let out a yawn.

"I might go lay down again for a while. I feel like I could sleep for a year and still not have enough." He smiled at this and stood up as she did, half expecting to have to catch her if she fell. Her slow, languid movements made it obvious she was still exhausted and very weak. But thankfully she made it up and into her room without faltering.

"Sleep well ok." He smiled, closing the door for her then heading straight back to the kitchen to try and construct something for her to eat for when she next woke.

* * *

Grissom watched as Catherine walked into his office and sat down opposite him. She had just returned from taking Sara home and looked tired herself now, drained by all the drama of earlier in the shift.

"So how is she doing?" He asked when Catherine had got herself settled.

"She was sleeping when I left." Catherine said with a heavy sigh. "She was still pretty out of it when I got her home though. Nick said he would ring when she woke up." Grissom nodded but Catherine could see the concern in his eyes. "She'll need some time off." Catherine said, more as a means of filling the silence than anything as it was, after all, stating the obvious.

"I know. I have just filled out the papers."

"Good." Catherine nodded. "Well I guess I should…" She gestured to the door behind her and began to stand but Grissom stopped her.

"You're not going to tell me what happened?"

"I don't know what you mean." She said, hovering over the chair.

"Yes you do." He said simply. Catherine sighed and sat back down in the seat. She knew he was talking about the bruising on her cheek. She had half hoped it would go unnoticed with everything else that had happened that night but apparently not.

"It was nothing. A stupid argument with a taxi driver…" He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "He said some things he had no right to say and I may have said some things…" She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders as if to say the rest of the details were not important but Grissom wasn't going to leave it there. He glared at her over the table, his expression leaving no room for her to not continue with her story. She sighed. "In my defence, he wasn't supposed to hear me." Grissom rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair.

"You know you should really learn to control that temper." He said. Catherine's jaw dropped and she laughed bitterly at this remark. "I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh." He apologised, realising how it must have come across. He ran a hand across his forehead with a sigh. He could feel a migraine coming on, not that it was surprising given the events of the last shift, and the one previously for that matter. "Are you ok? He didn't… hurt you any other way did he?" he asked, stumbling to find the best words.

"No. I'm fine." She said, holding her hand up to her cheek. "It doesn't even hurt that much." Grissom nodded but he still looked worried. "I'm going to get back to work. I have a few things to catch up on before I head home." She got as far as the door before Grissom stopped her again.

"Brass told me about what happened down at PD. Screaming at a suspect Catherine, that's not like you?"

"I know." She said quietly without turning around to face him. "I'm sorry." She ran her slender fingers down the wooden doorframe and turned to look over her shoulder as she spoke. "Does Ecklie have to know? Am I suspended?"

"I don't think that's necessary. I feel we have handled this matter internally don't you?" She frowned. "We have discussed you loosing your temper and I believe you realise the mistake you have made and will not make it again."

"Thank you." She smiled.

"So, what did he say exactly, the suspect I mean?" Grissom asked as she turned to try and leave again. "Brass was a little sketchy on the details." Catherine sighed.

"Nothing really, I just over reacted. I was asking about how he got the bruises on his face and he answered by asking how I got mine. I wouldn't tell him and he came up with some elaborate story about an abusive husband and how it wasn't right to put up with domestic violence, this coming from a man who had killed his wife and hospitalised his brother." She shrugged. "Just touched a nerve that's all." Grissom nodded, understanding how this might upset her.

"Do you need to talk about it?" He offered.

"No." She shook her head. "Besides, I think there are other people who need your attention more than me right now." She smiled knowingly and left him alone in his office.

* * *

**TBC...**

**I hope you liked it?! Please, please let me know what you think. I really do appreciate your feedback and it has taken a lot to get this chapter up and running!!! **

**p.s. the next chapter will contain a nice dose of GSR and your reviews will likely encourage me to post it faster... not that i would resort to bribery of course!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi all. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, again! I am crazy busy with exams and stuff at the minute but I have been occupying my evening revision breaks with getting back into fanfication. I hope you like this chapter, I know it's the satrt of what oyu have all been waiting for and I would hate to disappoint**...

* * *

Swallowing his pride, Grissom knocked on the door of Sara's apartment. He had to see for himself that she was ok. It seemed like an eternity before he heard any sound coming from inside the apartment and he had all but given up when the door finally opened to revile Nick, wiping his hands on a tea towel, on the other side. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Feeling a little domestic are we Nick?" He quipped.

"Um, yeah I was just making some soup for when Sara wakes up again." He said, stepping aside to let his boss past him and into his friend's apartment.

"She's still sleeping?" Grissom asked.

"Pretty sure it's some kind of record for her." Nick answered, understanding why Grissom looked so concerned. The two men stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Neither had been expecting the other to be there nor did they want them there really.

"It smells good." Grissom observed. "The soup."

"Thanks. There wasn't really much food in the apartment and it's pretty much the only thing I could come up with to make with what there was." Grissom nodded.

"So how's Sara?"

"Tired, obviously." Nick said with a shrug. "She was a lot more coherent though when she woke up." Again Grissom nodded and the room momentarily fell silent again. "Do you want me to wake her?" Nick offered reluctantly.

"No, no don't do that." Grissom said insistently, not wanting her to be disturbed on his account when she was clearly so in need of rest. "I just came to see that she was ok and to make sure there was nothing that she needed but you're here so it's ok." He was feeling a little flustered and was fairly sure that it wasn't going unnoticed by Nick. "Can you just err, tell her to call me when she is up to it." Nick nodded. "It's just about having some time off work. She needn't come back until she is fully recovered, she has plenty of time on the books." He added unnecessarily.

"Ok." Nick said, suppressing a smile at his boss's ramblings. There was another pause. "So do you want a coffee or something?" Nick offered.

"No." Grissom shook his head. "I should probably get going." He headed towards the door, Nick trailing behind him. "Would you just give Sara a message for me?"

"Sure." Nick looked at him expectantly but Grissom hadn't really thought what he wanted to say to her.

"Just tell her…" He paused, but was interrupted by Sara's voice from behind him before he could continue.

"Tell me what?" The two men turned to look at her, both casting a concerned gaze over her body. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom, resting herself against the wooden frame. The two men looked at her open mouthed, not sure how to answer this. It was Nick who eventually responded first.

"Sara, I uh, I'm sorry, we didn't mean to wake you." He moved closer to stand in front of her, blocking her from Grissom's view. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." She answered quickly, flashing him a smile. She ran a hand over her rumpled clothes, self-consciously trying to make herself look and feel a little more presentable, or as much as was possible for someone wearing pyjamas, all be it relatively nice ones. "Have you been here long, Grissom?" She asked politely.

"No." He cleared his throat, which seemed very dry all of a sudden. "I just stopped by to see that you were ok."

"Oh, well I am. Thanks." She stepped to the side so she could look at him as she spoke. She could see the worry in his eyes, the tired posture, the slight pain in his frown. The room fell silent. Nick looked over to Grissom too, expecting him to say something, but nothing came.

"Did you, uh, not say something about holidays Grissom?" He said slowly, prompting his boss of the other motive for his visit.

"Yes but it doesn't matter now. You look tired," He said, addressing Sara now. "I'll just come back."

"No." Sara said, more hastily than she had meant to. "I mean, no it's fine, I'm fine." She ran a hand back through her hair, trying to compose herself. "Nick, would you mind making some coffee? I'm just going to…" She gestured towards her bedroom. "I'll be right back."

"Actually," Nick said before she could leave. "I better get going." He couldn't help but feel he was getting in the way of something.

"Oh, ok." She smiled.

"I need tog et some sleep before the shift starts." He said by way of an explanation as he reached up for his Jacket from hook beside the door. "There's soup on the stove. It should be ready for whenever you want it." Sara smiled, glancing over to the steaming pot in the kitchen then back to her friend.

"You made that?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "It's nothing special but I figured you wouldn't feel much like cooking for yourself."

"It smells good." Nick suppressed a smile. He glanced over to Grissom, who was looking increasing uncomfortable.

"I'll see you later Griss."

"Ok Nick, Thanks for all your help tonight." Now it was Sara's turn to feel a little uncomfortable. She followed Nick to the front door to see him out.

"Are you going to be ok?" He asked quietly. She nodded, giving him a tired smile.

"Thanks Nick."

"No need to thank me." He smiled. He opened the door, stepping out into the cold hallway. "Take care of yourself ok."

"I will." She closed the door behind him, pausing for a brief moment to collect her thoughts before returning to the living room. There, she found Grissom still standing idling in the middle of the room. His back was to her, as if he wanted to give her and Nick some privacy.

"You can sit down you know." She said suddenly, Grissom visibly jumping at the sound of her voice. He slowly turned to look at her. She looked so fragile. "Can I get you anything?"

"Did you mention coffee?" She nodded and shuffled towards the kitchen.

"How about I make that." He offered as she began to take two mugs from the cupboard.

"It's ok I can do it." She said quietly.

"I know you can." She could feel the heat of his body behind her. "I just want to help." She turned to face him. They were only inches apart. "Let me." He reached past her, his arm brushing against hers as he did so. She closed her eyes, relishing their closeness. She opened them again to see him staring down at her, his blues eyes full of concern. "You ok?" She nodded.

"I'll be right back." She said, pleased when her voice didn't break as she feared it would. She left Grissom alone in the kitchen. He watched her as she walked into her bedroom but forced himself to look away moments before she closed the door, focusing instead on preparing the coffee. He filled the two mugs just in time for Sara returning, dressed still in her pyjama bottoms but with a sweater on and with her hair swept back from her face in a messy bun. She smiled shyly at him from the doorway of her room then walked over to the sofa and fell unceremoniously against the cushions. He followed her, seating himself more carefully and handing her the larger of the two mugs.

"Seems like Nick was taking good care of you?" He said, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I feel bad though. He shouldn't have had to do that... Bring me home, cook for me, stay with me."

"He was just worried." Grissom said, trying to reassure her.

"And you?" She looked up at him expectantly.

"I'm worried too." He said after a moment. "I care about you Sara, I know it might not seem like it sometimes..." She raised an eyebrow. "A lot of the time," He corrected. "But I do. We all do." She nodded and returned to looking at the steam rising in swirls in front of her face. _We all do. Not just him but all of them, he had to add that it was all of them. _

"So how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." She said automatically.

"Really?" He pushed.

"Tired, a little embarrassed."

"What for?"

"For collapsing at work in front of everyone. For getting so wrapped up in work, again, that I didn't even see this coming. For not realising how out of control my life was getting."

"Out of control?"

"You don't think this is out of control? You think that not sleeping for days, not eating, not having any kind life is normal?" She said, frustration rising in her voice.

"No, I don't." He said simply. "You're sure that's what this is?"

"You really think they would have let me come home if they even thought it might be anything more serious?" Grissom shrugged, accepting her line of thinking.

"I would still say this is pretty serious." He said. She glared at him.

"Have you just come here to chastise me or is there something else you wanted?" She asked bitterly.

"I came to see that you were ok, I was worried..."

"You already said that." He sighed.

"I want to help you Sara..."

"I don't need help."

"Yes you do." The room fell deathly silent. Her eyes darkened as she stared up at him and her jaw tightened.

"What makes you think you're the one who can help me?" She said, her voice wavering just enough for Grissom to notice. He didn't know what to say. He feared that anything he did say would only serve to make this worse. He could see the tears glistening in her hazel eyes and he wanted to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be ok. But he didn't. He couldn't. "I thought so." She said, pushing herself up from the couch and placing her mug down on the coffee table before making her way over to the window. She stood with her back to him, staring out to the car park below them. This was beginning to remind her too much of the time, only a couple of weeks previously, when she had poured her heart of to Grissom about her past. She had told him about her father about her mother, about the abuse. He had held her hand, let her talk, let her cry and then...

"I don't want to do this again Grissom." She said. She heard him stand up and place his mug down as she had done. She turned to face him. "I think maybe you should go."

"Sara..." His pleading tone seeped through her, pulling on her heart, tightening her chest. She closed her eyes again, not wanting him to see the tears. "Please tell me what's wrong."  
"You really don't know?" She choked. He shook his head but then realising she couldn't see him answered with a simple,

"No." She forced herself to look at him as she answered, trying her upmost to control the emotion in her voice.

"You Grissom, you're what's wrong."

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**TBC...**

**So what did you think? As always, reviews would be great and would certianly brighten my rather dull days at the moment!!! I will apologise in advance if I am slow to update but I will update eventually, I promise!**

**Thanks for reading.**

**x**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi Guys. Huge thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter: gsrfan34, Famous4it, SevernSound, SylvieT and Mma63. So this is the chapter where it all kicks off really... I hope you like it. Please let me know if you do. **

**(Recap of the story so far for anyone who is loosing the plot, if you know what I mean: Sara, Nick and Grissom are working a case involving a dead singer, a prostitute and possibly a drug dealer. A reporter confrunted Sara about it in the car park about the case and got a bit physical leaving her with bruises on her arms. Details of the case ended up all over the news and Ecklie blamed Sara so she was sent home. She came back to work but while working on a case with Greg collapsed in the locker room through exhaustion. Nick and Catherine brought her home and now Grissom has arrived, on Catherines advice, to see if he can help. **

**Meanwhile, Catherine had been put on a case that she was unable to work as it involved the club where she used to work. She handed over the case to Warrick and not Sara as Girssom asked her to as she was aware that Sara was struggling with her work load. She and Grissom then had a big fight about his lack of attentiveness to the team. Catherine then found out that Grissom has been offered another job but doesn't know if he wants to take it. She went out for drinks with the boys to let off some steam but ended up arguing with a taxi driver and getting herself a black eye. The next night at work she confrunted a suspect who tried to blame her injury on an abusive husband, a subject that hit a little close to home, but as she was about to explain the situation to Grissom, Greg came in and told them Sara had collapsed....see above! Hope that helps to keep everyone on track- I know it can pretty confusing when there are big breaks between updates.)**

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Grissom stared at her, dumfounded. What was he supposed to say to that? _You Grissom, you're what's wrong. _It was at moments like this that he liked to steal the words of others, say some famous quote to fill the void created by his own inarticulate mind. But there was nothing he could say to this, in his own words or otherwise.

"I think you should leave." She said again.

"I can't." Sara looked away, not wanting him to see the sadness she knew was written all over her face.

"You always do this to me." She said, her voice barely audible and her breath shaking as she tried to control herself.

"Do what?" He knew it was a stupid question the moment he asked it and he cringed at the silence that followed. She turned to face him, eyes red rimmed and glassy with tears. "Sara... I can't help you if you don't tell me what I have done wrong."

"I already told you, I don't need your help." She spat.

"Well I need yours, ok!" He said, his voice rising with his frustration. "I hate seeing you like this." He continued with his voice more gentle now. "I hate even more that it is me who has made you feel this way. Please Sara, just talk to me." She crossed her arms over her body and sniffed back the tears.

"Do you know why I came here Grissom?" It took him a moment to respond, the question catching him off guard.

"To investigate Holly Gribb's death."

"Guess again." She said. Grissom just shrugged. "I came here because you asked me to. Stupid huh?" Grissom stood motionless, just letting her talk. "And I stayed because you asked me to. I 'got a diversion' because you told me to and I ended up becoming a paramedic's dirty little bit on the side." Grissom cringed at this, hating the image it conjured in his mind. "I didn't leave when I wanted to, not because the lab needed me, but because something in the stupid plant you sent me told me that you needed me!" She was almost shouting herself now, waving her arm towards the bookcase where the plant still sat in pride of place. "But you know what Grissom, I guess I was wrong."

"You weren't wrong." He said simply.

"But what about me Grissom? Where the hell were you when I needed you? I told you things about my family that I had hoped I would never have to tell anyone again. It has been so hard for me to not let what they did to each other, to me, rule my life and then you come along..." She angrily wiped the tears from her cheek, pausing to stop her emotions from taking over her as she spoke. "You sat there, telling me everything was going to be ok and then you kissed me! What was that Grissom, a pity kiss?"

"We kissed." He corrected her. "We kissed. I kissed you and you kissed me back." He had been hanging onto that simple distinction for these last two weeks like his life depended on it, and perhaps that wasn't such an overemphasis as there were really only two things he lived for: his work, and Sara. She glared at him.

"Look whatever Grissom, I guess maybe I should be grateful you left when you did or it might have turned into something a whole lot more complicated!"

"No!" He shouted. "Sara I would never do that to you." He stepped closer to her but she backed away.

"Then what was it Grissom, because it certainly felt like that was all it was?" He didn't say anything but she could see the pain in his eyes. But as much as she didn't want to see that, and as angry as she was, she was not going to pass up this opportunity for an explanation. She took a deep breath, calming herself down so she was no longer shouting. "We have seen each other every night at work Grissom and not once have you tried to talk to me about it and whenever I have tried, you have just avoided the subject. Or avoided me." The sadness in her voice as she spoke these last words was more than he could bare to hear. "If you're ashamed of what happened Grissom that's fine but at least have the guts to tell me."

"The only thing I am ashamed of is that I have let this get so out of hand." He said gently. "I never meant to hurt you Sara, I was just... scared."

"I know." She sniffed, wiping her palm over her cheek again and walking past him to curl up in corner of her sofa. Seeing the confusion on his face she continued: "I heard you talking to Dr. Lurie." Grissom frowned, momentarily unable to place the name. "He murdered that nurse, Debbie Marlin, in her shower."

"You didn't know you had heard that." He said, his voice strained with worry.

"Does it matter that I did?"

"I suppose not." He sighed, sitting tentatively on the sofa next to Sara as he spoke, being careful to leave plenty of space between them. Sara looked at him expectantly but he didn't say anything, just stared at the floor.

"So that was it? You left because you were scared. Do you really think it would bother me that you are devoted to your work or that you are older than I am?"

"It wasn't just that." He replied in a deflated tone. "We work together and there are rules..."

"I've never been one to abide by the rules." She smiled. "You should know that by now. You've had to get me out of trouble for it plenty of times before."

"And I don't want to get you into trouble for it now." He said quickly turning to face her as he spoke.

"So you left because you were scared and you didn't want to get me into trouble?" She said slowly, wanting to clarify his reasoning in her own mind.

"Stupid huh?" He said, mocking her earlier choice of phrase. She pursed her lips, having to hold back a smile at his lame attempt at humour.

"So why... the kiss?" She asked hesitantly.

"Because I wanted you to know how much you mean to me."

"So I didn't feel so bad about what happened with my parents?"

"No. I would never be as naive as to think that anything I could do would make up for your past." She bit her bottom lip and pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her hands, wrapping her arms protectively around herself again. "I wanted you to know how special you are..."

"Because of all of that?" She asked quietly.

"In spite of all of that." They sat there in silence for a moment, letting the words settle. He moved closer to her, so their legs were almost touching. "Sara, I never wanted to be 'emotionally unavailable', not to you anyway." She looked at him with a watery smile. She had lost any willingness she may have had to fight, her energy level having plummeted far too low for that. Besides, he had been more open with her in the last few minutes than he had ever been. Maybe she was finally breaking through to him.

"Yeah?" She sniffed. "Well you have a funny way of showing it."

"If there is one thing I do not profess to be, that is good at handling people, handling relationships..."

"The great man knows he has flaws." She quipped.

"A pretty big one as happens, if it did this to you."

"I just keep playing it over in my mind." She said, shuffling to his side and resting her head on his shoulder. She felt him stiffen for a moment but he relaxed and adjusted himself to their new position. "I just don't want to loose you."

"You can't." He took one of her hands between his own. Silence descended on them again, only this time it was much more comfortable than it had been before.

"I was nice though, the kiss." She said distantly. He looked down at her his eyes widening in surprise at her words. "I keep playing it over and over... you leaving... I keep dreaming about it...the kiss and then you leaving..." Grissom opened his mouth to apologise but stopped when he felt her breath on his cheek as she let out a sleepy sigh. "Truce?" Her eyes were closed and she had started to pale again.

"Truce." He agreed, his voice only just above a whisper. Sara's head lulled forward and Grissom had to bring his hand to her cheek to stop if from falling from his shoulder. "You ok?" He asked, concerned by her sudden change of demeanour.

"Tired." She mumbled, turning further into his body.

"Just tired?" He asked, wanting to be sure it was nothing more.

"Um-hm." She nodded.

"You want me to go so you can get some sleep?"

"Stay." She tightened her fingers around his hand. He swallowed hard, taking in the sweet scent of her shampoo. Being so close to her, after years of wanting, it was taking a lot for him to control himself. The moment when he kissed her had brought out something in him that he never thought he would feel, but this somehow seemed so much more intimate.

"You want to lie down?"

"No, here is good." She sighed sleepily.

"Yes." Grissom smiled, running his thumb in small circles over the back of her hand. "Here is good."

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**So there we have it, happy at last... maybe :)**

**I will try and update again as soon as I can. I am tantalizingly close to the three figure mark for my reviews so please, please help me to get there with this chapter by taking just a couple of seconds to let me know what you think. I would love you forever if you did!!!!!**

**Thanks for reading. x**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi all. So firstly, major apologies for it taking me so long to update, again!!! I have been pretty busy with work and exams but have also been working on another story which I couldn't seem to get out of my head. That has slowed things down even more! I will hopefully have that posted too though soon so check it out! **

**Anyway, thanks to those of you who read and reviewed the last chapter. I refer you to the summery there if you need a refresher of events up until now. Hope you like this chapter anyway. It's a bit of a filler and not that long but I think it is needed to move the story along again. **

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It was the start of another shift and the boys of the grave yard shift had convened in the break room, ready for the new assignments to be handed out. Greg, for his part, was already working, his case file spread across the table in front of him. It hadn't progressed at all and with Sara no longer working it with him, he had little hope of moving it on any further until one of the others could free up some time to help him out. Work though, was not the first thing on his mind right now.

"So how was she when you got her home?" He asked Nick, who was seated on a chair in the corner of the room flicking through a newspaper. It was a over a week old but it didn't matter, he wasn't really reading it anyway, just using it as something to keep his mind occupied for a while until Grissom arrived.

"Tired and confused." He summed up with a shrug. "She slept, a lot."

"Well she certainly needed it." Warrick sighed as he flicked the coffee pot. "Coffee for anyone else?"

"I will."

"And me, thanks Warrick." Nick said, tossing his paper to one side.

"Thing is, I know the girl works herself hard, too hard, but I never thought it would get this bad." Warrick continued.

"Yeah, I'd say it has been weeks since she has slept properly." Nick agreed. "It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't more than just work keeping her up either."

"What do you mean?"

"She's just seemed really distracted these last few days, like there is something on her mind that's a lot more personal than just a case she's working."

"And there was that whole thing with the reporter." Greg cut in. "She was pretty shook up about that."

"And she's pulled what, three, four doubles this last couple of weeks that I know of." Nick recalled.

"She really has been running herself into the ground hasn't she?" Warrick sighed, shaking his head as he handed Nick, then Greg their respective cups of coffee.

"Tell me about it." Nick sighed. "She was totally out of it, had no idea what happened, what the paramedics said, how she got home, nothing."

"Sounds like she just woke up from a good night on town." Greg quipped.

"Is this some kind of joke to you Greg?" Nick sneered.

"No not at all." He said defensively.

"Good." The room fell quiet for a moment as the tension began to diffuse.

"You know maybe this will have done her some good." Greg said, causing this time both Warrick and Nick to stare at him astonish. "I mean at least now she is going to know to take care of herself."

"And you think that blacking out was the best way to realise that?" Nick asked with disdain.

"Well no but..."

"You know if you had spoken to Grissom when I told to you to maybe this wouldn't have happened." He said accusatively.

"How exactly would that have helped?"

"He could have put a stop to her endless working for one thing!"

"Because one less shift would have made all the difference?"

"Well it might have if..." Nick shot back.

"Hey guys come on," Warrick shouted. "There is no point in trying to blame this on anyone and arguing about it is not going help Sara to get better, so just cut it out ok."

"Yeah you're right." Nick sighed apologetically. Greg just slumped back in his chair, pouting.

"So do think you guys can refrain from ripping each others' heads off while go and find our supervisors, since shift started," He looked at his watched. "Fifteen minutes ago and neither of them are here yet?" They mumbled that they could and Warrick, rolling his eyes left to find Catherine. He knocked on her office door and listened for an answer. When none came, he knocked again and pushed it open.

"Cath you in there?"

"Oh hey Warrick," She said, flashing him a smile from where she sat behind her desk, surrounded by files and papers. "Sorry I was just..." She waved the compact she was holding in her hand at him then dropped it into the top draw of her desk, feeling a little embarrassed. He cringed at the mark on her cheek which, despite the makeup, still looked painful and raw.

"Shift started." He said.

"It did?" She looked at the clock above his head. "I must have lost track of time." She stood up and ran a hand back through her hair. The sound of the door clicking shut made her look up.

"Cath, about the other night, I shouldn't have let you leave by yourself..."

"It's fine." She smiled, dropping her gaze back down to her desk.

"Really, because that bruise on your face tells me otherwise." He said stepping closer, cupping her chin in his hand and tipping her face up towards him.

"Warrick..." She closed her eyes as he ran a finger lightly under the bruise.

"Does it hurt?" She shook her head. The tender feel of his hand on her face was enough to make her want to cry, Sure Grissom had shown his concerns, as had Jim, but with Warrick it was different. She was tired, not having slept well, worried about Sara more than herself, and tiredness tended to draw her usually well suppressed emotions to the surface.

"We should, uh, we should get to work." She stammered, fluttering her eyes open.

"Yeah." He smiled, running his hands slowly down her arms. "Quick heads up," He said lightly. "The heroic duo out there, are arguing about what happened with Sara last night."

"So keep them separate until the testosterone dies down a little?"

"It might not be bad idea." He agreed with a smile.

"Has Grissom handed out the assignments yet?" Catherine asked, turning her back to Warrick as she gathered her files from her desk. She took a deep breath, hoping to stop her heart, which was still beating quickly despite the loss of contact with him.

"No, I'm not sure where he is." Warrick told her. She turned around, her eyebrow raised in surprise at this information. "I know, not like him to be late huh?"

"Well I'm sure he has his reasons." Catherine sighed, turning back to her desk.

"Cath?"

"Uh-hum." She bit her lip and nodded her head but didn't turn to face him.

"Are you sure everything is ok?"

"Absolutely. " She spun around, her papers tucked under one arm, with a half convincing smile spread on her face. "Now why don't you go and make a start on your cases and I'll track down our supervisor." With that, she swept from the room, leaving Warrick with no choice but to do as he was asked. The next thing Catherine knew, she was opening the door to Grissom's office, totally unannounced then letting it slam shut behind her with a bang. Grissom looked up at her expectantly from his desk, but didn't say anything.

"Forgotten something?" She asked. He frowned. "Your team are waiting in the break room for you." She knew it was hypocritical of her to be annoyed at him for being late, seen as she too had failed to emerge from her office on time for the beginning of the shift, but then she wasn't the one who was meant to be in charge. He sat back in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh, running his fingers over his still aching forehead. Catherine softened a little, instantly recognising the signs of a migraine.

"How was she?" She asked, knowing there was no need to say who 'she' was.

"I think I've messed up Catherine." He admitted, his voice quiet and shamed.

"How so?" He wanted to tell her the truth, after all Catherine was one of his closest friends, but something from deep within stopped the words in his throat.

"I uh, I failed in my role as her supervisor. I should have realised how much she was working and stopped her. That's my job, something I apparently am not very good at."

"Gil, that's not true and you know it."

"Come on Cath, you know dealing with people has never been my strong point."

"That's why you have me." She smiled. "You do the science and I do the... people." She said, unable to find a better word. "It's called being a team."

"Well it would seem Ecklie is no longer one for team work then." Catherine frowned. "He heard about what happened. He's not happy."

"He never is."

"This is just the excuse he needs to push me out."

"And you're going to let him?" Grissom shrugged.

"I do have an alternative place to be."

"But Gil you can't seriously be still considering..." His phone began ringing and she stopped speaking for a moment, but then with a shake of her head, continued to talk. "You're going to take that job? I would have thought this whole thing might have shown you how much the team needs you."

"The team needs a supervisor who can be just that, a supervisor, not just a scientist." The ringing continued as he spoke.

"But you can be more that Grissom, you've proven it before you just need to... prove it again." Her eyes flicked from the phone and then back to Grissom. "You know, pull your head out of the microscope," She said quoting her own words. "And, and," She glared at the phone again, the incessant ringing making her own head begin to pound. "Will you just answer the dam phone!" She almost shouted. He arched an eyebrow, reaching out for the phone without taking his eyes away from her. He listened to the caller, answering where necessary, but his mind was really on Catherine. It was clear that she was struggling to cope with everything that was going on around her, and he was not going to let the same happen to her as had happened to Sara. She stood with her arms crossed, her hair falling around her face, covering it from his view, but he had a clear idea of the expression she might be wearing. He placed the phone down quietly and stood up.

"We have lead on the Christopher Martin case." Catherine looked up, a spark of interest in her eye. "She's downstairs."

"She?" Grissom brushed past her and opened the office door.

"You coming?"

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**Thanks for reading. Please reivew, it will take you only a minute and will make me very happy! **


	15. Chapter 15

**So I know I haven't uploaded in AAAAGES, but I thought I would try and get back into this story. I hope you will take the time to read this and leave me a review. I will get back to the more personal stuff in the next chapter but I thought the story needed a good case loaded chapter really to move things along a bit.**

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"This is our lead?" Catherine whispered to Grissom as they entered the reception. A young girl, who's outfit left little to the imagination and no question of her profession, was stood leaning against the desk, gesticulation wildly at a rather harassed looking Judy.

"I believe so." Grissom replied quietly as they stood motionless, observing the situation. He shrugged and strode forward. "Excuse me Miss?" He said, announcing his presence.

"Mr. Grissom." Judy said, visibly relaxing. "This young lady would like to speak to someone who is involved in the Christopher Martin case." She smiled politely at the girl but Grissom could tell she was less than impressed by her being there.

"Are you like, the guy in charge?" The girl asked rushing towards him. Grissom stepped back as she came a little too close.

"Um yes. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yeah, yeah my friend, she's missing and I heard that that famous guy, that hot guy, you know the one I mean right?"

"Yes..."

"What am I saying? Of course you know, I mean the whole of Vegas knows and you're like, the guy in charge right?" She interrupted before he could finish is sentence.

"Right..." Grissom turned to Catherine, his eyes begging her to step in and help. As tempted as she was to allow this little charade to continue, after all the look of horror and Grissom's face was rather priceless, Catherine thought it best that she did.

"Hi," She came to Grissom's side, flashing her best confident smile and tossing her hair over one shoulder. "I'm Catherine Willows, I work with Mr. Grissom. I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?"

"Maria, but my friends call me West" The girl said thrusting her hand in Catherine's direction. Slightly taken aback by the gesture, Catherine politely shook the girls hand and smiling asked,

"West?"

"Like west side story, you know _Maria, I just met a girl named Maria_..." She sang this last part. Catherine did well to hide her amusement.

"Ok. Well West, why don't you follow Mr Grissom and I to one of the rooms upstairs and we can have a little chat about your friend?" Suddenly the girl looked a little worried. Reading her mind Catherine added, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, we just want to talk somewhere a bit more private." The girl glanced at the rather awkward looking Grissom who took his cue to nod his agreement to what his colleague had said. Satisfied, Maria shrugged and followed the CSI's to one of the interrogation rooms, gathering a police officer on the way to stand in on their conversation. Catherine got the girl settled in the room, offered her a glass of water and explained again to her that this was not a formal interrogation, while Grissom shuffled off and gathered the files on the case.

"So tell me about your friend." Grissom started when he finally joined them. "What's her name?"

"Beth, Bethany Jackson."

"And when did you last see her?"

"Um, about 4 days ago." She said after some hesitation. "I sometimes wouldn't see her for a couple of nights anyway, guess that's why it's taken this long for me to realise but..." For the first time, she looked a little sad.

"And have you tried to get in contact with her?"

"Yeah I called her cell but I didn't get an answer." Grissom subtly flipped open the file and looked over the list of possessions found on the dead girls. A cell phone wasn't included.

"And how do you know Bethany?" Catherine asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer. The girl bit her bottom lip, but didn't answer. "Do you work together?" She pushed. She hesitated again but then nodded, her eyes focused on the table.

"Ok Maria," Grissom took over again. "I know this might be hard for you but do you recognise the girl in this photo?" He held out an image of the dead girl, pale, with a marked cheek, laid out on the morgue table. There was a pregnant pause before the girl nodded. "Is this Bethany?" She nodded again and wiped tear from her cheek with the back of her hand.

"I knew it must be her." She said quietly.

"How so?"

"I just had a feeling, you know, like she would never ignore my calls." The room fell silent again for a moment.

"Do you know if Bethany had ever..." There was a pause as he searched for the right word. "Worked with Christopher Martin before?"

"Not that I know of." She sniffed. "Not that we discussed our work a lot, but I think something like she would have told me. I mean it's not like a lot of famous guys would show us any interest, especially not someone like Christo. I mean the guy must be loaded, he could totally have got himself a really high end girl if he wanted to. Not that I'm saying that Beth wasn't good enough for him, but you know what I mean right?" Grissom nodded uncertainly.

"And did she ever take drugs?"

"Beth? Drugs? No, never. She was totally clean. She smoked the occasional cigarette but that's it."

"Ok, thank you." Grissom said, nodding again.

"Um, do you know of any family she has that we can contact?" Catherine asked after a moment.

"No. I mean she must have family, but she never talked about them. I guess having your kid grow up to work like we do...we did," she corrected. "It doesn't exactly make for a picture perfect family life." Catherine gave a sympathetic smile. She had seen the disappointed look her own mother's eyes enough times to know that this was true, and she only danced for a living.

"Ok, Maria. Thank you." Catherine said. "We really appreciate your help with this."

"Do you think you'll find the guy?"

"We certainly hope so." Catherine smiled. Maria nodded.

"Me too." She said sadly. "I can't believe she was the unlucky one. She was always the smart one you know, not like me. She could have done a lot more with her life... I guess now we'll never know..."

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**Ok. More soon I hope, if you guys want more that is! x**


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